People

This area's human history reaches beyond memory. The Southern Paiute called Cedar Breaks umapwich, or “the place where the rocks are sliding down all the time.” Ungkaw Pekonump is another Paiute name that translates into red-cove. Settlers later called it “Cedar Breaks,” by misidentifying the area’s juniper trees as cedars. “Breaks,” is a geographic term to describe a sharp/abrupt change or “break” in topography. As western tourism began to explode in the early 1900s, the lands which today comprise national park were included within the boundaries of Sevier National Forest in 1909, and subsequently incorporated into the Dixie National Forest. Management responsibility transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Interior and the National Park Service on August 22, 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Cedar Breaks a national monument.