[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 17 (Thursday, January 25, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7855-7857]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2399]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 17 / Thursday, January 25, 2001 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 7855]]


                Proclamation 7402 of January 19, 2001

                
Establishment of the Governors Island National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On the north tip of Governors Island, between the 
                confluence of the Hudson and Eastern Rivers, Governors 
                Island National Monument served as an outpost to 
                protect New York City from sea attack. The monument, 
                part of a larger 1985 National Historic Landmark 
                District designation, contains two important historical 
                objects, Castle William and Fort Jay. Between 1806 and 
                1811, these fortifications were constructed as part of 
                the First and Second American Systems of Coastal 
                Fortification. Castle William and Fort Jay represent 
                two of the finest types of defensive structures in use 
                from the Renaissance to the American Civil War. The 
                monument also played important roles in the War of 
                1812, the American Civil War, and World Wars I and II.

                The fortifications in the monument were built on the 
                most strategic defensive positions on the island. Fort 
                Jay, constructed between 1806 and 1809, is on the 
                highest point of the island from which its glacis 
                originally sloped down to the waterfront on all sides. 
                Castle William, constructed between 1807 and 1811, 
                occupies a rocky promontory as close as possible to the 
                harbor channels and served as the most important 
                strategic defensive point in the entrance to the New 
                York Harbor. The monument also includes a number of 
                associated historical buildings constructed as part of 
                the garrison post in the early part of the 19th 
                century.

                Governors Island has been managed by the U.S. Army and 
                the U.S. Coast Guard over the past 200 years. With the 
                site no longer required for military or Coast Guard 
                purposes, it provides an excellent opportunity for the 
                public to observe and understand the harbor history, 
                its defense, and its ecology.

                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 the Governors Island 
                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 Governors Island 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 
                ``Governors Islands National Monument'' attached to and 
                forming a part of this proclamation. The Federal land 
                and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 
                20 acres, which is the smallest area compatible with 
                the proper care and management of the objects to be 
                protected.

[[Page 7856]]

                Subject to existing law, including Public Law No. 105-
                33, Title IX, section 9101(a), 111 Stat. 670 (Aug. 5, 
                1997), 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.

                The Secretary of the Interior (``Secretary''), acting 
                through the National Park Service, shall manage the 
                monument in consultation with the Administrator of 
                General Services, consistent with the purposes and 
                provisions of this proclamation. For the purpose of 
                preserving, restoring, and enhancing the public 
                visitation and appreciation of the monument, the 
                Secretary, acting through the National Park Service, 
                shall prepare, in consultation with the Administrator 
                of General Services, a management plan for the monument 
                within 3 years of this date. Further, to the extent 
                authorized by law, the Secretary, acting through the 
                National Park Service, shall promulgate, in 
                consultation with the Administrator of General 
                Services, regulations for the proper care and 
                management of the objects identified above.

                The establishment 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.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                nineteenth 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 7857]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD25JA01.000


[FR Doc. 01-2399
Filed 1-24-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C