[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 2825-2829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1296]



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

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                Proclamation 7265 of January 11, 2000

                
Establishment of the Grand Canyon-Parashant 
                National Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument is a vast, 
                biologically diverse, impressive landscape encompassing 
                an array of scientific and historic objects. This 
                remote area of open, undeveloped spaces and engaging 
                scenery is located on the edge of one of the most 
                beautiful places on earth, the Grand Canyon. Despite 
                the hardships created by rugged isolation and the lack 
                of natural waters, the monument has a long and rich 
                human history spanning more than 11,000 years, and an 
                equally rich geologic history spanning almost 2 billion 
                years. Full of natural splendor and a sense of 
                solitude, this area remains remote and unspoiled, 
                qualities that are essential to the protection of the 
                scientific and historic resources it contains.

                The monument is a geological treasure. Its Paleozoic 
                and Mesozoic sedimentary rock layers are relatively 
                undeformed and unobscured by vegetation, offering a 
                clear view to understanding the geologic history of the 
                Colorado Plateau. Deep canyons, mountains, and lonely 
                buttes testify to the power of geological forces and 
                provide colorful vistas. A variety of formations have 
                been exposed by millennia of erosion by the Colorado 
                River. The Cambrian, Devonian, and Mississippian 
                formations (Muav Limestone, Temple Butte Formation, and 
                the Redwall Limestone) are exposed at the southern end 
                of the lower Grand Wash Cliffs. The Pennsylvanian and 
                Permian formations (Calville Limestone, Esplanade 
                Sandstone, Hermit Shale, Toroweap Formation, and the 
                Kaibab Formation) are well exposed within the 
                Parashant, Andrus, and Whitmore Canyons, and on the 
                Grand Gulch Bench. The Triassic Chinle and Moenkopi 
                Formations are exposed on the Shivwits Plateau, and the 
                purple, pink, and white shale, mudstone, and sandstone 
                of the Triassic Chinle Formation are exposed in Hells 
                Hole.

                The monument encompasses the lower portion of the 
                Shivwits Plateau, which forms an important watershed 
                for the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. The 
                Plateau is bounded on the west by the Grand Wash Cliffs 
                and on the east by the Hurricane Cliffs. These cliffs, 
                formed by large faults that sever the Colorado Plateau 
                slicing north to south through the region, were and are 
                major topographic barriers to travel across the area. 
                The Grand Wash Cliffs juxtapose the colorful, lava-
                capped Precambrian and Paleozoic strata of the Grand 
                Canyon against the highly faulted terrain, recent lake 
                beds, and desert volcanic peaks of the down-dropped 
                Grand Wash trough. These cliffs, which consist of lower 
                and upper cliffs separated by the Grand Gulch Bench, 
                form a spectacular boundary between the basin and range 
                and the Colorado Plateau geologic provinces. At the 
                south end of the Shivwits Plateau are several important 
                tributaries to the Colorado River, including the rugged 
                and beautiful Parashant, Andrus, and Whitmore canyons. 
                The Plateau here is capped by volcanic rocks with an 
                array of cinder cones and basalt flows, ranging in age 
                from 9 million to only about 1000 years old. Lava from 
                the Whitmore and Toroweap areas flowed into the Grand 
                Canyon and dammed the river many times over the past 
                several million years. The monument is pocketed with 
                sinkholes and breccia pipes, structures

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                associated with volcanism and the collapse of 
                underlying rock layers through ground water 
                dissolution.

                Fossils are abundant in the monument. Among these are 
                large numbers of invertebrate fossils, including 
                bryozoans and brachiopods located in the Calville 
                limestone of the Grand Wash Cliffs, and brachiopods, 
                pelecypods, fenestrate bryozoa, and crinoid ossicles in 
                the Toroweap and Kaibab formations of Whitmore Canyon. 
                There are also sponges in nodules and pectenoid 
                pelecypods throughout the Kaibab formation of Parashant 
                Canyon.

                The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument contains 
                portions of geologic faults, including the Dellenbaugh 
                fault, which cuts basalt flows dated 6 to 7 million 
                years old, the Toroweap fault, which has been active 
                within the last 30,000 years, the Hurricane fault, 
                which forms the Hurricane Cliffs and extends over 150 
                miles across northern Arizona and into Utah, and the 
                Grand Wash fault, which bounds the west side of the 
                Shivwits Plateau and has approximately 15,000 feet of 
                displacement across the monument.

                Archaeological evidence shows much human use of the 
                area over the past centuries. Because of their 
                remoteness and the lack of easy road access, the sites 
                in this area have experienced relatively little 
                vandalism. Their good condition distinguishes them from 
                many prehistoric resources in other areas. Prehistoric 
                use is documented by irreplaceable rock art images, 
                quarries, villages, watchtowers, agricultural features, 
                burial sites, caves, rockshelters, trails, and camps. 
                Current evidence indicates that the monument was 
                utilized by small numbers of hunter-gatherers during 
                the Archaic Period (7000 B.C. to 300 B.C.). Population 
                and utilization of the monument increased during the 
                Ancestral Puebloan Period from the Basketmaker II Phase 
                through the Pueblo II Phase (300 B.C. to 1150 A.D.), as 
                evidenced by the presence of pit houses, habitation 
                rooms, agricultural features, and pueblo structures. 
                Population size decreased during the Pueblo III Phase 
                (1150 A.D. to 1225 A.D.). Southern Paiute groups 
                replaced the Pueblo groups and were occupying the 
                monument at the time of Euro-American contact. 
                Archeological sites in the monument include large 
                concentrations of ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi or 
                Hitsatsinom) villages, a large, intact Pueblo II 
                village, numerous archaic period archeological sites, 
                ancestral Puebloan sites, and Southern Paiute sites. 
                The monument also contains areas of importance to 
                existing Indian tribes.

                In 1776, the Escalante-Dominguez expedition of Spanish 
                explorers passed near Mount Trumbull. In the first half 
                of the 19th century, Jedediah Smith, Antonio Armiijo, 
                and John C. Fremont explored portions of this remote 
                area. Jacob Hamblin, a noted Mormon pioneer, explored 
                portions of the Shivwits Plateau in 1858 and, with John 
                Wesley Powell, in the 1870s. Clarence Dutton completed 
                some of the first geological explorations of this area 
                and provided some of the most stirring written 
                descriptions. Having traversed this area by wagon at 
                the request of the territorial legislature, Sharlot 
                Hall recommended it for inclusion within the State of 
                Arizona when it gained Statehood in 1912. Early 
                historic sawmills provided timber that was hauled 70 
                miles along the Temple Trail wagon road from Mt. 
                Trumbull down the Hurricane Cliffs to St. George, Utah. 
                Ranch structures and corrals, fences, water tanks, and 
                the ruins of sawmills are scattered across the monument 
                and tell the stories of the remote family ranches and 
                the lifestyles of early homesteaders. There are several 
                old mining sites dating from the 1870s, showing the 
                history of mining during the late 19th and early 20th 
                centuries. The remote and undeveloped nature of the 
                monument protects these historical sites in nearly 
                their original context.

                The monument also contains outstanding biological 
                resources preserved by remoteness and limited travel 
                corridors. The monument is the junction of two 
                physiographic ecoregions: the Mojave Desert and the 
                Colorado Plateau. Individually, these regions contain 
                ecosystems extreme to each other, ranging from stark, 
                arid desert to complex, dramatic higher elevation 
                plateaus, tributaries, and rims of the Grand Canyon. 
                The western margin of the Shivwits Plateau marks the 
                boundary between the Sonoran/Mojave/Great Basin 
                floristic

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                provinces to the west and south, and the Colorado 
                Plateau province to the northeast. This intersection of 
                these biomes is a distinctive and remarkable feature. 
                Riparian corridors link the plateau to the Colorado 
                River corridor below, allowing wildlife movement and 
                plant dispersal. The Shivwits Plateau is in an arid 
                environment with between 14 to 18 inches of 
                precipitation a year. Giant Mojave Yucca cacti 
                proliferate in undisturbed conditions throughout the 
                monument. Diverse wildlife inhabit the monument, 
                including a trophy-quality mule deer herd, Kaibab 
                squirrels, and wild turkey. There are numerous 
                threatened or endangered species as well, including the 
                Mexican spotted owl, the California condor, the desert 
                tortoise, and the southwestern willow flycatcher. There 
                are also candidate or sensitive species, including the 
                spotted bat, the western mastiff bat, the Townsend's 
                big eared bat, and the goshawk, as well as two 
                federally recognized sensitive rare plant species: 
                Penstemon distans and Rosa stellata. The ponderosa pine 
                ecosystem in the Mt. Trumbull area is a biological 
                resource of scientific interest, which has been studied 
                to gain important insights regarding dendroclimatic 
                reconstruction, fire history, forest structure change, 
                and the long-term persistence and stability of 
                presettlement pine groups.

                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 Grand Canyon-Parashant 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 Grand Canyon-Parashant 
                National Monument, for the purpose of protecting the 
                objects identified above, all lands and interests in 
                lands owned or controlled by the United States within 
                the boundaries of the area described on the map 
                entitled ``Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument'' 
                attached to and forming a part of this proclamation. 
                The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist 
                of approximately 1,014,000 acres, which is the smallest 
                area compatible with the proper care and management of 
                the objects to be protected.

                For the purpose of protecting the objects identified 
                above, all motorized and mechanized vehicle use off 
                road will be prohibited, except for emergency or 
                authorized administrative purposes.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge 
                or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of Arizona 
                with respect to fish and wildlife management.

                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, or 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. Sale 
                of vegetative material is permitted only if part of an 
                authorized science-based ecological restoration 
                project. 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.

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                This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of 
                Federal law nor relinquish any water rights held by the 
                Federal Government existing on this date. The Federal 
                land managing agencies shall work with appropriate 
                State authorities to ensure that water resources needed 
                for monument purposes are available.

                The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument 
                through the Bureau of Land Management and the National 
                Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, 
                to implement the purposes of this proclamation. The 
                National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management 
                shall manage the monument cooperatively and shall 
                prepare an agreement to share, consistent with 
                applicable laws, whatever resources are necessary to 
                properly manage the monument; however, the National 
                Park Service shall continue to have primary management 
                authority over the portion of the monument within the 
                Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and the Bureau of 
                Land Management shall have primary management authority 
                over the remaining portion of the monument.

                The Bureau of Land Management shall continue to issue 
                and administer grazing leases within the portion of the 
                monument within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 
                consistent with the Lake Mead National Recreation Area 
                authorizing legislation. Laws, regulations, and 
                policies followed by the Bureau of Land Management in 
                issuing and administering grazing leases on all lands 
                under its jurisdiction shall continue to apply to the 
                remaining portion of the monument.

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

                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.)

Billing code 3195-01-P

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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD18JA00.026


[FR Doc. 00-1296
Filed 1-14-00; 10:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C