Wupatki National Monument encompasses 14,350 hectares in north-central Arizona, near Flagstaff and directly west of the Little Colorado River and the Navajo Reservation. It was established on December 9, 1924 by President Calvin Coolidge to preserve several prehistoric pueblos with standing architecture. Wupatki NM is the only known area in the southwestern U.S. where physical evidence from at least three archeologically separate Ancestral Puebloan cultures is found together in a number of archeological sites. Historic Navajo and Anglo ranch sites are also present at the monument.

Twenty-two plant community types have been documented at Wupatki NM. The most dominant types are pinyon-juniper woodland and savanna, grasslands, and desert scrub communities. The monument also supports 145 bird, 46 mammal, and 19 reptile species.