[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7335-7338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2097]
[[Page 7333]]
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Part XX
The President
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Proclamation 7392--Boundary Enlargement and Modifications of the Buck
Island Reef National Monument
Proclamation 7393--Establishment of the Carrizo Plain National Monument
Proclamation 7394--Establishment of the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks
National Monument
Proclamation 7395--Establishment of the Minidoka Internment National
Monument
Proclamation 7396--Establishment of the Pompeys Pillar National
Monument
Proclamation 7397--Establishment of the Sonoran Desert National
Monument
Proclamation 7398--Establishment of the Upper Missouri River Breaks
National Monument
Proclamation 7399--Establishment of the Virgin Islands Coral Reef
National Monument
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 14 / Monday, January 22, 2001 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 7335]]
Proclamation 7392 of January 17, 2001
Boundary Enlargement and Modifications of the
Buck Island Reef National Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Buck Island Reef National Monument was established on
December 28, 1961 (Presidential Proclamation 3443),
just north of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, for
the purpose of protecting Buck Island and its adjoining
shoals, rocks, and undersea coral reef formations.
Considered one of the finest marine gardens in the
Caribbean Sea, the unique natural area and the rare
marine life which are dependent upon it are subject to
the constant threat of commercial exploitation and
destruction. The monument's vulnerable floral and
faunal communities live in a fragile, interdependent
relationship and include habitats essential for
sustaining the tropical marine ecosystem: coral reefs,
sea grass beds, octocoral hardbottom, sand communities,
algal plains, shelf edge, and oceanic habitats. The
boundary enlargement effected by this proclamation
brings into the monument additional objects of
scientific and historic interest, and provides
necessary further protection for the resources of the
existing monument.
The expansion area includes additional coral reefs
(patch, pur and groove, and deep and wall), unusual
``haystacks'' of elkhorn coral, barrier reefs, sea
grass beds, and sand communities, as well as algal
plains, shelf edge, and other supporting habitats not
included within the initial boundary. Oceanic currents
carry planktonic larvae of coral reef associated
animals to the shallow nearshore coral reef and sea
grass habitats, where they transform into their
juvenile stage. As they mature over months or years,
they move offshore and take up residence in the deeper
coral reefs, octocoral hardbottom, and algal plains.
Between the monument's nearshore habitats and its shelf
edge spawning sites are habitats that play essential
roles during specific developmental stages of many
reef-associated species, including spawning migrations
of many reef fish species and crustaceans. Several
threatened and endangered species forage, breed, nest,
rest, or calve in the waters included in the enlarged
monument, including humpback whales, pilot whales, four
species of dolphins, brown pelicans, least terns, and
the hawksbill, leatherback, and green sea turtles.
Countless species of reef fishes, invertebrates,
plants, and over 12 species of sea birds utilize this
area.
The ecologically important shelf edge is the spawning
site for many reef species, such as most groupers and
snappers, and the spiny lobster. Plummeting to abyssal
depths, this habitat of vertical walls, honeycombed
with holes and caves, is home to deepwater species and
a refuge for other species.
The expansion area also contains significant cultural
and historical objects. In March 1797, the slave ship
Mary, captained by James Hunter of Liverpool, sank in
this area, and its cargo of 240 slaves was saved and
brought to Christiansted. In March 1803, the General
Abercrombie, captained by James Booth of Liverpool,
also wrecked in this area, and its cargo of 339 slaves
was brought to Christiansted. Slave shipwrecks in U.S.
waters are rare. The monument contains remnants of
these wrecks. Other wrecks may also exist in the
monument.
[[Page 7336]]
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 an addition to the
Buck Island Reef 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 an addition to the Buck Island
Reef National Monument, for the purpose of care,
management, and protection of the objects of historic
and scientific interest situated on lands within the
said monument, all lands and interests in lands owned
or controlled by the United States within the
boundaries of the area described on the map entitled
``Buck Island Reef National Monument Boundary
Enlargement'' attached to and forming a part of this
proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land
reserved consist of approximately 18,135 marine acres,
which is the smallest area compatible with the proper
care and management of the objects to be protected.
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.
For the purpose of protecting the objects identified
above, the Secretary shall prohibit all boat anchoring,
provided that the Secretary may permit exceptions for
emergency or authorized administrative purposes, and
may issue permits for anchoring in deep sand bottom
areas, to the extent that it is consistent with the
protection of the objects.
For the purposes of protecting the objects identified
above, the Secretary shall prohibit all extractive
uses. This prohibition supersedes the limited
authorization for extractive uses included in
Proclamation 3443 of December 28, 1961.
Lands and interests in lands within the monument not
owned or controlled by the United States shall be
reserved as a part of the monument upon acquisition of
title or control thereto by the United States.
The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument
through the National Park Service, pursuant to
applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes
of this proclamation. The National Park Service will
manage the monument in a manner consistent with
international law.
The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a
management plan, including the management of vessels in
the monument, within 2 years that will address any
further specific actions necessary to protect the
objects identified above.
The enlargement of this monument is subject to valid
existing rights.
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 7337]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand one, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3195-01-P
[[Page 7338]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD22JA01.178
[FR Doc. 01-2097 Filed 1-19-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C