PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

national park in eastern Arizona, U.S., 18 miles (29 km) east of Holbrook. Established as a national monument in 1906 and as a national park in 1962, it occupies an area of 146 square miles (378 square km). The park features extensive exhibits of petrified wood in several "forest" areas. The park includes the inaccessible Black Forest in the Painted Desert (q.v.), a badlands region of colourful wind-eroded hills near the north entrance, where Pilot Rock (6,235 feet ), the park's highest point, is located. Other sections of the park (Blue Mesa, Jasper, Crystal, and Rainbow forests) are mostly filled with fossilized leaves, plants, and broken logs. Other features include petroglyphs (such as Newspaper Rock) and ancient Indian Pueblo ruins, notably the Puerco Indian Ruin (just south of the Painted Desert) and the Rainbow Forest Museum, near the south entrance. The park's elevation, which ranges from 5,300 feet (1,600 m) to Pilot Rock's 6,235 feet, and its annual precipitation, which is less than 10 inches (250 mm), are the primary factors in determining the type of plant and animal life. Many of the plants are small and inconspicuous, but they include some that blossom in spring-yuccas, mariposa lilies, and cacti-and others that provide summer flowers-asters, rabbit brush, and sunflowers. Wildlife includes coyotes, bobcats, antelopes, rattlesnakes, lizards, and a variety of birds, notably the horned lark, rock wren, and phoebe.