[2] Since that time, the following archaeological studies have been conducted:[3][9] President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the site a National Monument on December 19, 1919, by Proclamation No.

1549, on a 9.5 acre (38,000 m2) piece of land previously donated by Henry Van Kleeck, originally known as Aztec Springs; the name of the site was changed by the Proclamation.

[3] As of 1919, the site was one of many research national monuments designated during that era to preserve the ruins, plants and animals in the Yucca House area.

[12] A visitor in 2018 provided this summary of the experience at Yucca House after arriving without a guide:[13]You can make out small parts of a wall here and there and see piles of stones, but the vegetation covers the majority of the ruins and it is difficult to understand what you are seeing.

[15] After completion of environmental assessments, in July 2024, the National Park Service accepted a deed to the Karwick property as the final step of the acquisition.

Entrance to the monument is by an easement across the Box Bar ranch owned by the local Ford dealer Joe Keesee and his partner Lucky Pickens since 2005.

Though the ranch was purchased with the easement—County Road 20.5, although it is not marked as such[11]—already in place, there have been numerous attempts to prevent the public from accessing the monument via the easement.

[19][20] After the planned expansion is approved by Congress and signed into law,[21] the additional land should resolve the controversy, with a new method of entry into the monument as well as a new parking lot and perhaps, restrooms.