The overall height of the monument, including the base, is 78 feet (24 metres).
The monument, including its iconic torch, and the museum on nearby Ellis Island have been without power since Hurricane Sandy hit on Oct. 29.
In addition to organ-pipe cacti, numerous other desert plants are found in the monument, including desert ironwoods, ocotillos (flowering spiny shrubs), saguaros (large candelabra-shaped cacti), creosote bushes, and the rare elephant tree (Bursera microphylla).
The parade to the monument included century-old fire apparatus, scores of company dogs and six of the department's oldest horses, which had responded to a total of 18,088 alarms.
Among the places James surveyed more than once was Stonehenge, for which he produced separate species lists for each of the 82 stones that make up the monument – including the bright-yellow lichen Candalariella which flourished wherever English Heritage had tried to remove paint graffiti.
He often delivered speeches in front of the monument, including in 2001, when he spent three hours repudiating the conviction of a Libyan agent for the bombing of Pan Am Flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, as a herd of camels and goats wandered about.
Existing leases on the eastern end of the monument, including at least two covered by the bureau's finding, are the subject of a lawsuit filed two years ago by the Montana Wilderness Association in Federal District Court in Missoula and are awaiting a judge's ruling.
Thousands of people signed a petition in support of the monument, including the broadcaster David Dimbleby, whose father was a war correspondent.
