Inventory of Mammals at Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, and Sunset Crater National Monuments

One of the major purposes of the U. S. National Park Service (NPS) is to protect and preserve the plants, animals, and biological communities of the federal lands that it manages. This is stated in the agency's founding legislation, which describes the mission of the Park Service as "...to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein..." of the lands that they manage (National Park Service Organic Act, 1916).