[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 2821-2823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1295]



[[Page 2821]]

 
 
                         Presidential Documents 
 
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

 ___________________________________________________________________

                Proclamation 7264 of January 11, 2000

                
Establishment of the California Coastal National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The islands, rocks, and pinnacles of the California 
                Coastal National Monument overwhelm the viewer, as 
                white-capped waves crash into the vertical cliffs or 
                deeply crevassed surge channels and frothy water 
                empties back into the ocean. Amidst that beauty lies 
                irreplaceable scientific values vital to protecting the 
                fragile ecosystems of the California coastline. At 
                land's end, the islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and 
                pinnacles off the coast above mean high tide provide 
                havens for significant populations of sea mammals and 
                birds. They are part of a narrow and important flight 
                lane in the Pacific Flyway, providing essential habitat 
                for feeding, perching, nesting, and shelter.

                The California Coastal National Monument is a 
                biological treasure. The thousands of islands, rocks, 
                exposed reefs, and pinnacles are part of the nearshore 
                ocean zone that begins just off shore and ends at the 
                boundary between the continental shelf and continental 
                slope. Waters of this zone are rich in nutrients from 
                upwelling currents and freshwater inflows, supporting a 
                rich array of habitats and organisms. Productive 
                oceanographic factors, such as major ocean currents, 
                stimulate critical biological productivity and 
                diversity in both nearshore and offshore ocean waters.

                The monument contains many geologic formations that 
                provide unique habitat for biota. Wave action exerts a 
                strong influence on habitat distribution within the 
                monument. Beaches occur where wave action is light, 
                boulder fields occur in areas of greater wave activity, 
                and rocky outcroppings occur where wave action is 
                greatest. The pounding surf within boulder fields and 
                rocky shores often creates small, but important, 
                habitats known as tidepools, which support creatures 
                uniquely adapted for survival under such extreme 
                physical conditions. Although shoreline habitats may 
                appear distinct from those off shore, they are 
                dependent upon each other, with vital and dynamic 
                exchange of nutrients and organisms being essential to 
                maintaining their healthy ecosystems. As part of 
                California's nearshore ocean zone, the monument is rich 
                in biodiversity and holds many species of scientific 
                interest that can be particularly sensitive to 
                disturbance.

                The monument's vegetative character varies greatly. 
                Larger rocks and islands contain diverse growth. 
                Dudleya, Atriplex-Baeria-Rumex, mixed grass-herb, 
                Polypodium, Distichlis, ice plant, Synthyris-Poppy, 
                Eymus, Poa-Baeria, chaparral, and wetlands vegetation 
                are all present. Larger rocks and islands contain a 
                diverse blend of the vegetation types.

                The monument provides feeding and nesting habitat for 
                an estimated 200,000 breeding seabirds. Development on 
                the mainland has forced seabirds that once fed and 
                nested in the shoreline ecosystem to retreat to the 
                areas protected by the monument. Pelagic seabird 
                species inhabit salt or brackish water environments for 
                at least part of their annual cycle and breed on 
                offshore islands and rocks. Gulls, the endangered 
                California least tern, the threatened brown pelican, 
                and the snowy plover, among countless others, all feed 
                on the vegetation and establish their nests in the 
                monument. Both bald eagles and peregrine falcons are 
                found within the monument.

[[Page 2822]]

                The monument also provides forage and breeding habitat 
                for several mammal species. Pinnipeds are abundant, 
                including the threatened southern sea otter and the 
                Guadalupe fur seal. The monument contains important 
                shelter for male California sea lions in the winter and 
                breeding rookeries for threatened northern (Steller) 
                sea lions in the spring.

                Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 
                U.S.C. 431) authorizes the President, in his 
                discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic 
                landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and 
                other objects of historic or scientific interest that 
                are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the 
                Government of the United States to be national 
                monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of 
                land, the limits of which in all cases shall be 
                confined to the smallest area compatible with the 
                proper care and management of the objects to be 
                protected.

                WHEREAS it appears that it would be in the public 
                interest to reserve such lands as a national monument 
                to be known as the California Coastal National 
                Monument:

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 
                16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there are hereby set 
                apart and reserved as the California Coastal National 
                Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects 
                identified above, all unappropriated or unreserved 
                lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the 
                United States in the form of islands, rocks, exposed 
                reefs, and pinnacles above mean high tide within 12 
                nautical miles of the shoreline of the State of 
                California. The Federal land and interests in land 
                reserved are encompassed in the entire 840 mile Pacific 
                coastline, which is the smallest area compatible with 
                the proper care and management of the objects to be 
                protected.

                The establishment of this monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries of this monument are hereby appropriated and 
                withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, 
                sale, leasing, or other disposition under the public 
                land laws, including but not limited to withdrawal from 
                location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and 
                from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and 
                geothermal leasing, other than by exchange that 
                furthers the protective purposes of the monument. Lands 
                and interests in lands within the proposed monument not 
                owned by the United States shall be reserved as a part 
                of the monument upon acquisition of title thereto by 
                the United States.

                The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument 
                through the Bureau of Land Management, pursuant to 
                applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes 
                of this proclamation.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke 
                any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; 
                however, the national monument shall be the dominant 
                reservation.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall enlarge or diminish 
                the jurisdiction or authority of the State of 
                California or the United States over submerged or other 
                lands within the territorial waters off the coast of 
                California.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the rights or 
                obligations of any State or Federal oil or gas lessee 
                within the territorial waters off the California coast.

                Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not 
                to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature 
                of this monument and not to locate or settle upon any 
                of the lands thereof.

[[Page 2823]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand, and of the Independence of the United States 
                of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 00-1295
Filed 1-14-00; 10:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P