[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 165 (Friday, August 24, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44643-44644]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21453]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NMNM 94897]


Public Land Order No. 7495; Partial Modification of an Executive 
Order and Transfer of Jurisdiction; New Mexico

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Public Land Order.

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SUMMARY: This order modifies an Executive Order insofar as it affects 
approximately 903 acres of land by changing the reservation of the land 
for military purposes to a reservation of the land for Bureau of Indian 
Affairs programs and establishing a 20-year

[[Page 44644]]

term. Jurisdiction of the land is transferred from the Secretary of 
Defense/Secretary of the Army to the Secretary of the Interior for 
management by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The land will remain closed 
to surface entry and mining to protect an area having cultural, 
historical, geological and archeological significance to the Navajo 
Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 24, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Debby Lucero, BLM Albuquerque Field 
Office, 435 Montano Road NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87107, 505-761-
8787.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By virtue of the authority vested in the 
Secretary of the Interior by Section 204 of the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C. 1714 (1994), it is ordered as 
follows:
    1. The Executive Order dated February 18, 1870, which withdrew and 
reserved public land for use by the War Department for Fort Wingate is 
hereby modified to establish a 20-year term for the land described 
below. Jurisdiction of the following described land is hereby 
transferred from the Secretary of Defense/Secretary of the Army to the 
Secretary of the Interior and reserved for use and administration by 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs:
    Parcel 15 and Parcel 17 of the administrative survey plat titled 
``ADMINISTRATIVE SURVEY OF CERTAIN PARCELS WITHIN FORT WINGATE ARMY 
DEPOT, NEW MEXICO,'' approved and dated September 18, 2000, on file at 
the Bureau of Land Management's New Mexico State Office, Santa Fe, New 
Mexico; excluding the area identified as ``Right-of-Way'' on the survey 
plat titled ``TOWNSHIP 15 NORTH, RANGE 16 WEST OF THE NEW MEXICO 
PRINCIPLE MERIDIAN, NEW MEXICO, WITHIN THE FORT WINGATE ARMY DEPOT, 
ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHT-OF-WAY SURVEY,'' dated and approved October 10, 
2000, on file at the New Mexico State Office.
    The areas of Parcel 15 and Parcel 17 aggregate approximately 903 
acres.
    2. The land described in Paragraph 1 continues to be withdrawn from 
settlement, sale, location, or entry under the general land laws, 
including the Unites States mining laws (30 U.S.C. Ch.2 (1994)), but 
not from leasing under the mineral leasing laws, to protect an area 
having cultural, historical, geological and archeological significance 
to the Navajo Nation and the Pueblo of Zuni. The withdrawn land is to 
be managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for these values, as well as 
other compatible uses.
    3. The land and resources shall be managed by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, its successors or assigns, in accordance with the Memorandum 
of Agreement between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the 
Department of the Interior dated June 13, 2000. The Memorandum of 
Agreement shall be incorporated into any future land transfers for the 
life of the Memorandum of Agreement. The Memorandum of Agreement may be 
reviewed and amended by the agencies as necessary.
    4. The Department of the Army and its officers, agents, employees, 
contractors, and subcontractors will have the right of access, upon 
reasonable notice, to enter the land described in this order for the 
purpose of activities related to the Fort Wingate Depot Activity 
Installation Restoration Program and other environmentally related 
compliance programs and to construct, operate, maintain or undertake 
response and remedial actions to implement this program.
    5. The Department of the Army represents that, to the best of its 
knowledge, no unexploded ordnance are currently present on the land 
described in this order. Due to the former use of the land as an active 
military installation, there is a possibility that unexploded ordnance 
may exist on the land. Upon due notice, the Army agrees to remove any 
such remaining unexploded ordnance discovered on the land, as required 
under applicable law and regulations, as expeditiously as is reasonable 
and practicable, subject to the availability of funds.
    6. This withdrawal will expire 20 years from the effective date of 
this order unless, as a result of a review conducted before the 
expiration date pursuant to Section 204(f) of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C. 1714(f) (1994), the Secretary 
determines that the withdrawal shall be extended.

    Dated: August 10, 2001.
J. Steven Griles,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-21453 Filed 8-23-01; 8:45 am]
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