[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7359-7363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2103]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 14 / Monday, January 22, 2001 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 7359]]


                Proclamation 7398 of January 17, 2001

                
 Establishment of the Upper Missouri River Breaks 
                National Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument 
                contains a spectacular array of biological, geological, 
                and historical objects of interest. From Fort Benton 
                upstream into the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife 
                Refuge, the monument spans 149 miles of the Upper 
                Missouri River, the adjacent Breaks country, and 
                portions of Arrow Creek, Antelope Creek, and the Judith 
                River. The area has remained largely unchanged in the 
                nearly 200 years since Meriwether Lewis and William 
                Clark traveled through it on their epic journey. In 
                1976, the Congress designated the Missouri River 
                segment and corridor in this area a National Wild and 
                Scenic River (Public Law 94-486, 90 Stat. 2327). The 
                monument also encompasses segments of the Lewis and 
                Clark National Historic Trail, the Nez Perce National 
                Historic Trail, and the Cow Creek Island Area of 
                Critical Environmental Concern.

                Lewis and Clark first encountered the Breaks country of 
                the monument on their westward leg. In his journal, 
                Clark described the abundant wildlife of the area, 
                including mule deer, elk, and antelope, and on April 
                29, 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition recorded the 
                first big horn sheep observation by non-Indians in 
                North America. Lewis' description of the magnificent 
                White Cliffs area on the western side of the monument 
                is especially vivid, and not just for his sometimes 
                colorful spellings:

                ``The hills and river Clifts which we passed today 
                exhibit a most romantic appearance.... The bluffs of 
                the river rise to hight of from 2 to 300 feet and in 
                most places nearly perpendicular; they are formed of 
                remarkable white sandstone which is sufficiently soft 
                to give way readily to the impression of water...

                ``The water in the course of time ... has trickled down 
                the soft sand clifts and woarn it into a thousand 
                grotesque figures, which with the help of a little 
                immagination and an oblique view, at a distance are 
                made to represent eligant ranges of lofty freestone 
                buildings, having their parapets well stocked with 
                statuary; collumns of various sculptures both grooved 
                and plain, are also seen supporting long galleries in 
                front of these buildings; in other places on a much 
                nearer approach and with the help of less immagination 
                we see the remains or ruins of eligant buildings; some 
                collumns standing and almost entire with their 
                pedestals and capitals; others retaining their 
                pedestals but deprived by time or accident of their 
                capitals, some lying prostrate an broken othe[r]s in 
                the form of vast pyramids of conic structure bearing a 
                serees of other pyramids on their tops...

                As we passed on it seemed as if those seens of 
                visionary inchantment would never have and [an] end; 
                for here it is too that nature presents to the view of 
                the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable 
                workmanship, so perfect indeed are those walls that I 
                should have thought that nature had attempted here to 
                rival the human art of masonry...''

                The monument is covered with sedimentary rocks 
                deposited in shallow seas that covered central and 
                eastern Montana during the Cretaceous period.

[[Page 7360]]

                Glaciers, volcanic activity, and erosion have since 
                folded, faulted, uplifted, and sculpted the landscape 
                to the majestic form it takes today.

                The area remains remote and nearly as undeveloped as it 
                was in 1805. Many of the biological objects described 
                in Lewis' and Clark's journals continue to make the 
                monument their home. The monument boasts the most 
                viable elk herd in Montana and one of the premier big 
                horn sheep herds in the continental United States. It 
                contains essential winter range for sage grouse as well 
                as habitat for prairie dogs. Lewis sent Jefferson a 
                prairie dog specimen which was, as Lewis noted at the 
                time, ``new to science.'' Abundant plant life along the 
                River and across the Breaks country supports this 
                wildlife. The lower reach of the Judith River, just 
                above its confluence with the Missouri, contains one of 
                the few remaining fully functioning cottonwood gallery 
                forest ecosystems on the Northern Plains. Arrow Creek, 
                originally called Slaughter River by Lewis and Clark, 
                contains the largest concentration of antelope and mule 
                deer in the monument as well as important spawning 
                habitat for the endangered pallid sturgeon. An undammed 
                tributary to the Missouri River, Arrow Creek is a 
                critical seed source for cottonwood trees for the flood 
                plain along the Missouri.

                The cliff faces in the monument provide perching and 
                nesting habitat for many raptors, including the sparrow 
                hawk, ferruginous hawk, peregrine falcon, prairie 
                falcon, and golden eagle. Several pairs of bald eagles 
                nest along the River in the monument and many others 
                visit during the late fall and early winter. Shoreline 
                areas provide habitat for great blue heron, pelican, 
                and a wide variety of waterfowl. The River and its 
                tributaries in the monument host forty-eight fish 
                species, including goldeye, drum, sauger, walleye, 
                northern pike, channel catfish, and small mouth 
                buffalo. The monument has one of the six remaining 
                paddlefish populations in the United States. The River 
                also supports the blue sucker, shovel nose sturgeon, 
                sicklefin, sturgeon chub, and the endangered pallid 
                sturgeon.

                The Bullwacker area of the monument contains some of 
                the wildest country on all the Great Plains, as well as 
                important wildlife habitat. During the stress-inducing 
                winter months, mule deer and elk move up to the area 
                from the river, and antelope and sage grouse move down 
                to the area from the benchlands. The heads of the 
                coulees and breaks also contain archeological and 
                historical sites, from teepee rings and remnants of 
                historic trails to abandoned homesteads and lookout 
                sites used by Meriwether Lewis.

                Long before the time of Lewis and Clark, the area was 
                inhabited by numerous native tribes, including the 
                Blackfeet, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre (Atsina), Crow, 
                Plains Cree, and Plains Ojibwa. The confluence of the 
                Judith and Missouri Rivers was the setting for 
                important peace councils in 1846 and 1855. In 1877, the 
                Nez Perce crossed the Missouri and entered the Breaks 
                country in their attempt to escape to Canada. The Cow 
                Island Skirmish occurred in the Breaks and was the last 
                encounter prior to the Nez Perce surrender to the U.S. 
                Army at the Battle of Bear Paw just north of the 
                monument. Pioneers and the Army followed Lewis and 
                Clark in the 1830s establishing Fort Piegan, Fort 
                McKenzie, and Fort Benton. Remnants of this rich 
                history are scattered throughout the monument, and the 
                River corridor retains many of the same qualities and 
                much of the same appearance today as it did then.

                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 Upper Missouri River Breaks National 
                Monument:

[[Page 7361]]

                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 Upper Missouri River Breaks 
                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 ``Upper Missouri River Breaks National 
                Monument'' attached to and forming a part of this 
                proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land 
                reserved consist of approximately 377,346 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. The 
                establishment of this monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights. The Secretary of the Interior shall 
                manage development on existing oil and gas leases 
                within the monument, subject to valid existing rights, 
                so as not to create any new impacts that would 
                interfere with the proper care and management of the 
                objects protected by this proclamation.

                The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a 
                transportation plan that addresses the actions, 
                including road closures or travel restrictions, 
                necessary to protect the objects identified in this 
                proclamation.

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

                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, including the National 
                Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, to implement the purposes 
                of this proclamation.

                Because waters of the Upper Missouri River through the 
                monument area have already been reserved through the 
                Congress's designation of the area as a component of 
                the National Wild and Scenic River System in 1976, this 
                proclamation makes no additional reservation of water, 
                except in two small tributaries, the Judith River and 
                Arrow Creek. These tributaries contain outstanding 
                objects of biological interest that are dependent on 
                water, such as a fully functioning cottonwood gallery 
                forest ecosystem that is rare in the Northern Plains. 
                Therefore, there is hereby reserved, as of the date of 
                this proclamation and subject to valid existing rights, 
                a quantity of water in the Judith River and Arrow Creek 
                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.

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

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge 
                or diminish the rights of any Indian tribe.

                Laws, regulations, and policies followed by the Bureau 
                of Land Management in issuing and administering grazing 
                permits or leases on all lands under its jurisdiction 
                shall continue to apply with regard to the lands in the 
                monument.

[[Page 7362]]

                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 
                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 7363]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD22JA01.184


[FR Doc. 01-2103 Filed 1-19-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C