As a country, we have long understood the value of protecting our historical sites because they create invaluable opportunities for inquiry, reflection and insight and sometimes to simply experience wonder.

Last week, President Barack Obama enriched us all by proclaiming Nevada’s Basin and Range — home to archaeological sites ranging from 9,000-year-old Clovis points to 19th-century settlement sites — as a national monument.

Now I hope he will consider protecting some of the truly world-class archaeological treasures we have here in Utah by proclaiming a national monument in the Canyon Country of southern Utah.

Utah’s Canyon Country is best known perhaps for its absolutely breathtakingly beautiful scenery and unparalleled hiking, rafting, rock climbing, biking, off-roading and sightseeing opportunities.

But the Canyon Country — especially the public lands that surround Canyonlands National Park and stretch south across Indian Creek, the Abajos, Elk Ridge and Cedar Mesa to the San Juan River — also holds some of the most scientifically important cultural resources to be found anywhere in North America.

Ensconced in ancient alcoves or perched astonishingly on the ledges of sheer canyon walls, human history here is as layered as the sandstone topography that enfolds it. To venture into this landscape — as anyone willing to tread lightly and respectfully can do — is to walk through time with wonder and awe, marveling at the secrets of our collective past.

What a great gift it would be to our nation to protect this area as a monument!

Utah’s Canyon Country stands today as a largely untapped and remarkably well-preserved library of almost 12,000 years of human history: from Ice Age mammoth hunters and ancient farmers who cultivated corn in the arid desert to infamous outlaws like Butch Cassidy who found refuge here. It is a vast outdoor museum that could one day unlock the mystery of how humans adapted to a changing climate in the American West.

The area’s aridity and isolation have helped preserve remnants of this fascinating history largely intact and undisturbed: spears from Paleoindian hunters; basketry, tools, ceremonial objects and clay figurines from Archaic hunter-gatherers, and elaborately designed pottery, standing stone structures, cliff dwellings and brilliantly complex rock art of the Basketmaker, Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont peoples.

Unfortunately, without action, this treasure trove of scientific and historical knowledge will be lost over time. Poorly regulated off-road vehicle use, proposed oil and gas drilling, tar sands mining, and uranium and potash development all threaten to transform the region and open the door to looters and vandals.

With each site that is lost through neglect or malice, another page is ripped from our history.

If we don’t act now to protect this extraordinary landscape, we may never fully understand the mystery and lessons of the ancient ones or have the chance to follow in their footsteps with our grandchildren.

Jerry D. Spangler is a registered professional archaeologist and executive director of the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of America's cultural treasures on public lands in the West.