[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 80 (Tuesday, April 25, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 24095-24100]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10312]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 80 / Tuesday, April 25, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 24095]]

                Proclamation 7295 of April 15, 2000

                
Establishment of the Giant Sequoia National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The rich and varied landscape of the Giant Sequoia 
                National Monument holds a diverse array of scientific 
                and historic resources. Magnificent groves of towering 
                giant sequoias, the world's largest trees, are 
                interspersed within a great belt of coniferous forest, 
                jeweled with mountain meadows. Bold granitic domes, 
                spires, and plunging gorges texture the landscape. The 
                area's elevation climbs from about 2,500 to 9,700 feet 
                over a distance of only a few miles, capturing an 
                extraordinary number of habitats within a relatively 
                small area. This spectrum of ecosystems is home to a 
                diverse array of plants and animals, many of which are 
                rare or endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada. The 
                monument embraces limestone caverns and holds unique 
                paleontological resources documenting tens of thousands 
                of years of ecosystem change. The monument also has 
                many archaeological sites recording Native American 
                occupation and adaptations to this complex landscape, 
                and historic remnants of early Euroamerican settlement 
                as well as the commercial exploitation of the giant 
                sequoias. The monument provides exemplary opportunities 
                for biologists, geologists, paleontologists, 
                archaeologists, and historians to study these objects.

                Ancestral forms of giant sequoia were a part of the 
                western North American landscape for millions of years. 
                Giant sequoias are the largest trees ever to have 
                lived, and are among the world's longest-lived trees, 
                reaching ages of more than 3,200 years or more. Because 
                of this great longevity, giant sequoias hold within 
                their tree rings multi-millennial records of past 
                environmental changes such as climate, fire regimes, 
                and consequent forest response. Only one other North 
                American tree species, the high-elevation bristlecone 
                pine of the desert mountain ranges east of the Sierra 
                Nevada, holds such lengthy and detailed chronologies of 
                past changes and events.

                Sequoias and their surrounding ecosystems provide a 
                context for understanding ongoing environmental 
                changes. For example, a century of fire suppression has 
                led to an unprecedented failure in sequoia reproduction 
                in otherwise undisturbed groves. Climatic change also 
                has influenced the sequoia groves; their present highly 
                disjunct distribution is at least partly due to 
                generally higher summertime temperatures and prolonged 
                summer droughts in California from about 10,000 to 
                4,500 years ago. During that period, sequoias were 
                rarer than today. Only following a slight cooling and 
                shortening of summer droughts, about 4,500 years ago, 
                has the sequoia been able to spread and create today's 
                groves.

                These giant sequoia groves and the surrounding forest 
                provide an excellent opportunity to understand the 
                consequences of different approaches to forest 
                restoration. These forests need restoration to 
                counteract the effects of a century of fire suppression 
                and logging. Fire suppression has caused forests to 
                become denser in many areas, with increased dominance 
                of shade-tolerant species. Woody debris has 
                accumulated, causing an unprecedented buildup of 
                surface fuels. One of the most immediate consequences 
                of these changes is an increased hazard of wildfires of 
                a severity that was rarely encountered in pre-
                Euroamerican times. Outstanding opportunities exist for 
                studying the

[[Page 24096]]

                consequences of different approaches to mitigating 
                these conditions and restoring natural forest 
                resilience.

                The great elevational range of the monument embraces a 
                number of climatic zones, providing habitats for an 
                extraordinary diversity of plant species and 
                communities. The monument is rich in rare plants and is 
                home to more than 200 plant species endemic to the 
                southern Sierra Nevada mountain range, arrayed in plant 
                communities ranging from low-elevation oak woodlands 
                and chaparral to high-elevation subalpine forest. 
                Numerous meadows and streams provide an interconnected 
                web of habitats for moisture-loving species.

                This spectrum of interconnected vegetation types 
                provides essential habitat for wildlife, ranging from 
                large, charismatic animals to less visible and less 
                familiar forms of life, such as fungi and insects. The 
                mid-elevation forests are dominated by massive conifers 
                arrayed in a complex landscape mosaic, providing one of 
                the last refugia for the Pacific fisher in California. 
                The fisher appears to have been extirpated from the 
                northern Sierra Nevada mountain range. The forests of 
                the monument are also home to great gray owl, American 
                marten, northern goshawk, peregrine falcon, spotted 
                owl, and a number of rare amphibians. The giant 
                sequoias themselves are the only known trees large 
                enough to provide nesting cavities for the California 
                condor, which otherwise must nest on cliff faces. In 
                fact, the last pair of condors breeding in the wild was 
                discovered in a giant sequoia that is part of the new 
                monument. The monument's giant sequoia ecosystem 
                remains available for the return and study of condors.

                The physiography and geology of the monument have been 
                shaped by millions of years of intensive uplift, 
                erosion, volcanism, and glaciation. The monument is 
                dominated by granitic rocks, most noticeable as domes 
                and spires in areas such as the Needles. The 
                magnificent Kern Canyon forms the eastern boundary of 
                the monument's southern unit. The canyon follows an 
                ancient fault, forming the only major north-south river 
                drainage in the Sierra Nevada. Remnants of volcanism 
                are expressed as hot springs and soda springs in some 
                drainages.

                Particularly in the northern unit of the monument, 
                limestone outcrops, remnants of an ancient seabed, are 
                noted for their caves. Subfossil vegetation entombed 
                within ancient woodrat middens in these caves has 
                provided the only direct evidence of where giant 
                sequoias grew during the Pleistocene Era, and documents 
                substantial vegetation changes over the last 50,000 or 
                more years. Vertebrate fossils also have been found 
                within the middens. Other paleontological resources are 
                found in meadow sediments, which hold detailed records 
                of the last 10 millennia of changing vegetation, fire 
                regimes, and volcanism in the Sierra Nevada. The multi-
                millennial, annual- and seasonal-resolution records of 
                past fire regimes held in giant sequoia tree-rings are 
                unique worldwide.

                During the past 8,000 years, Native American peoples of 
                the Sierra Nevada have lived by hunting and fishing, 
                gathering, and trading with other people throughout the 
                region. Archaeological sites such as lithic scatters, 
                food-processing sites, rock shelters, village sites, 
                petroglyphs, and pictographs are found in the monument. 
                These sites have the potential to shed light on the 
                roles of prehistoric peoples, including the role they 
                played in shaping the ecosystems on which they 
                depended.

                One of the earliest recorded references to giant 
                sequoias is found in the notes of the Walker Expedition 
                of 1833, which described ``trees of the redwood 
                species, incredibly large . . . .'' The world became 
                aware of giant sequoias when sections of the massive 
                trees were transported east and displayed as 
                curiosities for eastern audiences. Logging of giant 
                sequoias throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range 
                began in 1856. Logging has continued intermittently to 
                this day on nonfederal lands within the area of the 
                monument. Early entrepreneurs, seeing profit in the 
                gigantic trees, began acquiring lands within the 
                present monument under the Timber and Stone Act in the 
                1880s. Today our understanding of the history of the 
                Hume Lake and

[[Page 24097]]

                Converse Basin areas of the monument is supported by a 
                treasure trove of historical photographs and other 
                documentation. These records provide a unique and 
                unusually clear picture of more than half a century of 
                logging that resulted in the virtual removal of most 
                forest in some areas of the monument. Outstanding 
                opportunities exist for studying forest resilience to 
                large-scale logging and the consequences of different 
                approaches to forest restoration.

                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 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 Giant Sequoia 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 Giant Sequoia National 
                Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects 
                identified in the above preceding paragraphs, all lands 
                and interests in lands owned or controlled by the 
                United States within the boundaries of the area 
                described on the map entitled ``Proposed Giant Sequoia 
                National Monument'' attached to and forming a part of 
                this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in 
                land reserved consist of approximately 327,769 acres, 
                which is the smallest area compatible with the proper 
                care and management of the objects to be protected as 
                identified in the above preceding paragraphs.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries of this monument are hereby appropriated and 
                withdrawn from entry, location, selection, sale, 
                leasing, or other disposition under the public land 
                laws including, but not limited to, withdrawal from 
                locating, 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 boundaries of the 
                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 establishment of this monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights.

                Timber sales under contract as of the date of the 
                proclamation and timber sales with a decision notice 
                signed after January 1, 1999, but prior to December 31, 
                1999, may be completed consistent with the terms of the 
                decision notice and contract. No portion of the 
                monument shall be considered to be suited for timber 
                production, and no part of the monument shall be used 
                in a calculation or provision of a sustained yield of 
                timber from the Sequoia National Forest. Removal of 
                trees, except for personal use fuel wood, from within 
                the monument area may take place only if clearly needed 
                for ecological restoration and maintenance or public 
                safety.

                The Secretary of Agriculture shall manage the monument, 
                along with the underlying Forest, through the Forest 
                Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to 
                implement the purposes and provisions of this 
                proclamation. The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
                prepare, within 3 years of this date, a management plan 
                for this monument, and shall promulgate such 
                regulations for its management as deemed appropriate. 
                The plan will provide for and encourage continued 
                public and recreational access and use consistent with 
                the purposes of the monument.

[[Page 24098]]

                Unique scientific and ecological issues are involved in 
                management of giant sequoia groves, including groves 
                located in nearby and adjacent lands managed by the 
                Bureau of Land Management and the National Park 
                Service. The Secretary, in consultation with the 
                National Academy of Sciences, shall appoint a 
                Scientific Advisory Board to provide scientific 
                guidance during the development of the initial 
                management plan. Board membership shall represent a 
                range of scientific disciplines pertaining to the 
                objects to be protected, including, but not necessarily 
                limited to, the physical, biological, and social 
                sciences.

                The Secretary, through the Forest Service, shall, in 
                developing any management plans and any management 
                rules and regulations governing the monument, consult 
                with the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau 
                of Land Management and the National Park Service. The 
                final decision to issue any management plans and any 
                management rules and regulations rests with the 
                Secretary of Agriculture. Management plans or rules and 
                regulations developed by the Secretary of the Interior 
                governing uses within national parks or other national 
                monuments administered by the Secretary of the Interior 
                shall not apply within the Giant Sequoia National 
                Monument.

                The management plan shall contain a transportation plan 
                for the monument that provides for visitor enjoyment 
                and understanding about the scientific and historic 
                objects in the monument, consistent with their 
                protection. For the purposes of protecting the objects 
                included in the monument, motorized vehicle use will be 
                permitted only on designated roads, and non-motorized 
                mechanized vehicle use will be permitted only on 
                designated roads and trails, except for emergency or 
                authorized administrative purposes or to provide access 
                for persons with disabilities. No new roads or trails 
                will be authorized within the monument except to 
                further the purposes of the monument. Prior to the 
                issuance of the management plan, existing roads and 
                trails may be closed or altered to protect the objects 
                of interest in the monument, and motorized vehicle use 
                will be permitted on trails until but not after 
                December 31, 2000.

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

                There is hereby reserved, as of the date of this 
                proclamation and subject to valid existing rights, a 
                quantity of water sufficient to fulfill the purposes 
                for which this monument is established. Nothing in this 
                reservation shall be construed as a relinquishment or 
                reduction of any water use or rights reserved or 
                appropriated by the United States on or before the date 
                of this proclamation.

                Laws, regulations, and policies pertaining to 
                administration by the Department of Agriculture of 
                grazing permits and timber sales under contract as of 
                the date of this proclamation on National Forest System 
                lands within the boundaries of the monument shall 
                continue to apply to lands within the monument.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to affect 
                existing special use authorizations; existing uses 
                shall be governed by applicable laws, regulations, and 
                management plans.

                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.

[[Page 24099]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fifteenth day of April, 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

[[Page 24100]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD25AP00.018


[FR Doc. 00-10312
Filed 4-24-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C