[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 19, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14835-14838]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5499]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Publication of the New U.S. World Heritage Tentative List: 15-Day 
Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment on Proposed Initial U.S. 
Nominations to the World Heritage List

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice constitutes the official publication of the new 
U.S. World Heritage Tentative List and provides a First Notice for the 
public to comment on proposed initial U.S. nominations from the new 
Tentative List to the UNESCO World Heritage List. This notice complies 
with Sec. 73.7(c) of the World Heritage Program regulations (36 CFR 
part 73).
    The new Tentative List (formerly referred to as the Indicative 
Inventory) appears at the end of this notice. The Tentative List 
consists of properties that appear to qualify for World Heritage status 
and which may be considered for nomination by the United States to the 
World Heritage List. The new U.S. Tentative List was transmitted to the 
UNESCO World Heritage Centre on January 24, 2008.
    The preparation of the Tentative List provided multiple 
opportunities for the public to comment on which sites to include, as 
part of a process that also included recommendations by the U.S. 
National Commission for UNESCO, a Federal Advisory Commission to the 
U.S. Department of State.
    The United States is now considering whether to nominate any of the 
properties on the Tentative List to the World Heritage List. The U.S. 
is considering proposing two properties, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine 
National Monument, Hawaii, and Mount Vernon, Virginia, as the initial 
U.S. sites to be drawn from the new Tentative List for nomination to 
the World Heritage List. The Department will consider both public 
comments received during this comment period and the advice of the 
Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage in making a final decision 
on the initial U.S. World Heritage nominations, if any.

DATES: Comments upon whether to nominate any of the properties on the 
new Tentative List, including Papahanaumokuakea Marine National 
Monument and Mount Vernon, will be accepted on or before fifteen days 
from the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    If selected, the owners of sites proposed for nomination will be 
responsible, in cooperation with the National Park Service, for 
preparing the draft nomination in the nomination Format required by the 
World Heritage Committee and for gathering documentation in support of 
it. Any such nominations must be received from the preparers by the 
National Park Service in substantially complete draft form by July 1, 
2008. Such draft nominations will be reviewed, amended if necessary, 
and provided to the World Heritage Centre for initial review no later 
than September 30, 2008. The Centre is to provide comments by November 
14, 2008, with final submittal to the World Heritage Centre by the 
Department of the Interior through the Department of State required by 
January 30, 2009. Protective measures must be in place before a 
property may be nominated. If a nomination cannot be completed in 
accordance with this timeline, work may continue into the following 
year for subsequent submission to UNESCO.

ADDRESSES: Please provide all comments directly to Jonathan Putnam, 
Office of International Affairs, National

[[Page 14836]]

Park Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW., (0050) Washington, DC 20005 or by 
E-mail to: [email protected]. Phone: 202-354-1809. Fax 202-371-
1446. All comments will be a matter of public record. Before including 
your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your 
entire comment--including your personal identifying information--may be 
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your 
comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public 
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    NPS specifically requests comments on whether to nominate any of 
the properties on the new Tentative List, and specifically whether to 
nominate Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and/or Mount 
Vernon. Comments should address the qualifications of the properties 
proposed for nomination by the United States to the World Heritage 
List. In formulating your comments, you may wish to take account of the 
evaluations in the final U.S. Tentative List report referenced below. 
The World Heritage nomination criteria can be found on the National 
Park Service Office of International Affairs Web site http://www.nps.gov/oia.
    All public comments are welcomed and will be summarized and 
provided to the Department of the Interior officials who will select 
the initial U.S. World Heritage nominations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809 or April 
Brooks, 202-354-1808. General information about U.S. participation in 
the World Heritage Program and the process used to develop the 
Tentative List is posted on the Office of International Affairs Web 
site at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/tentativelist.htm.
    Only the 14 properties included in U.S. Tentative List are eligible 
to be considered for nomination by the United States to the World 
Heritage List. Brief descriptions of them appear in a copy of the press 
release announcing the Tentative List, which is linked to the site just 
noted. The U.S. Tentative List report on the 14 sites in the form 
submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on January 24, 2008, 
appears in its entirety on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/tentativelist/WHTentList.doc. (For additional 
information, the earlier National Park Service staff report, including 
summaries of information on all 35 sites for which Applications were 
filed, is posted on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/oia/TLEssayFinal.pdf. If you would like to review the full Applications 
submitted to the National Park Service for any candidate sites, please 
go to http://www.nps.gov/oia/NewWebpages/ApplicantsTentativeList.html.)
    To request a paper copy of the new U.S. Tentative List report 
submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, please contact April 
Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service, 1201 
Eye Street, NW., (0050) Washington, DC 20005. E-mail: [email protected] .
    For the World Heritage nomination Format, see the World Heritage 
Centre Web site at http://whc.unesco.org/en/nominationform.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The World Heritage List is an international list of cultural and 
natural properties nominated by the signatories to the World Heritage 
Convention (1972). The United States was the prime architect of the 
Convention, an international treaty for the preservation of natural and 
cultural heritage sites of global significance proposed by President 
Richard M. Nixon in 1972, and the U.S. was the first nation to ratify 
it. In 2005, the United States was elected to a fourth term on the 
World Heritage Committee and will serve until 2009. There are 851 sites 
in 140 of the 184 signatory countries. Currently there are 20 World 
Heritage Sites in the United States already listed.
    U.S. participation and the roles of the Department of the Interior 
and the National Park Service are authorized by Title IV of the 
Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 and conducted in 
accordance with 36 CFR 73--World Heritage Convention.
    The National Park Service serves as the principal technical agency 
for the U.S. Government to the Convention and manages all or parts of 
17 of the 20 U.S. World Heritage Sites currently listed, including 
Yellowstone National Park, the Everglades, and the Statue of Liberty.
    A Tentative List is a national list of natural and cultural 
properties appearing to meet the World Heritage Committee eligibility 
criteria for nomination to the World Heritage List. It is a list of 
candidate sites which a country intends to consider for nomination 
within a given time period. A country cannot nominate a property unless 
it has been on its Tentative List for a minimum of a year. Countries 
also are limited to nominating no more than two sites in any given 
year.
    Neither inclusion in the Tentative List nor inscription as a World 
Heritage Site imposes legal restrictions on owners or neighbors of 
sites, nor does it give the United Nations any management authority or 
ownership rights in U.S. World Heritage Sites, which continue to be 
fully subject to U.S. law. Inclusion in the Tentative List merely 
indicates that the property may be further examined for possible World 
Heritage nomination in the future.
    The World Heritage Committee's Operational Guidelines ask 
participating nations to provide Tentative Lists, which aid in 
evaluating properties for the World Heritage List on a comparative 
international basis and help the Committee to schedule its work over 
the long term. The Guidelines recommend that a nation review its 
Tentative List at least once every decade. The new Tentative List 
replaces the original U.S. Tentative List (formerly Indicative 
Inventory) that was published by NPS in the Federal Register on May 6, 
1982 (FR 47, 88: 19648-19655) and amended with one additional site in 
1983 and one other in 1990.
    In order to guide the U.S. World Heritage Program effectively and 
in a timely manner, NPS prepared and submitted (through the Secretary 
of the Interior and the Secretary of State) to the World Heritage 
Centre of UNESCO on January 24, 2008, the previously referenced 
Tentative List of properties that appear to meet the criteria for 
nomination and are eligible for nomination during the next decade 
(2009-2019), starting on or after January 30, 2009. Submittal of 
nominations must be made no later than that date for the World Heritage 
Committee's consideration in 2010.
    In order to be included, a proposed site had to meet several U.S. 
prerequisites in addition to appearing to meet the stringent World 
Heritage criteria of international importance.
    The U.S. prerequisites included the written agreement of all 
property owners to the nomination of their property, general support 
from stakeholders, including elected officials, and a prior official 
determination that the property was nationally important (such as by 
designation as a National Historic or National Natural Landmark).

Process for Developing the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List

    The Tentative List was developed using an Application approved by 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on August 29, 2006 (OMB

[[Page 14837]]

Control No. 1024-0250), pursuant to a 30-Day Notice of Request for 
Clearance of Collection of Information to the Office of Management and 
Budget published by NPS in the Federal Register on July 27, 2006 (FR 
71, 144:42664-42665).
    The National Park Service Office of International Affairs provided 
the Application form in August 2006 for voluntary applications to a new 
U.S. World Heritage Tentative List by governmental and private property 
owners. It was intended that preparers use the Application to 
demonstrate that the property meets the criteria established by the 
World Heritage Committee for inclusion in the World Heritage List and 
other requirements, including those of U.S. domestic law (16 U.S.C. 470 
a-1, a-2, d) and the program regulations (36 CFR 73-World Heritage 
Convention).
    Thirty-seven (37) Applications were received by the April 1, 2007 
deadline. Two were subsequently withdrawn. The National Park Service 
made recommendations based on staff review of the Applications by the 
Office of International Affairs, in consultation with National Park 
Service subject matter experts and external reviewers for cultural and 
natural resources who are knowledgeable about the World Heritage 
Committee's policies, practices and precedents. Additional 
correspondence and/or Addenda containing revised or expanded material 
was received from most applicants in response to written reviews that 
were provided to them; all of this material was carefully considered.

Results of Review

    NPS staff recommendations were provided to the World Heritage 
Tentative List Subcommittee of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO 
for review.
    The Office of International Affairs recommended 19 sites for a new 
Tentative List. These included three natural properties, fifteen 
cultural properties (two of which are extensions to currently inscribed 
World Heritage Sites), and one mixed natural and cultural property. The 
staff review recommended four additional sites for future 
consideration.

Review by U.S. National Commission for UNESCO

    The staff recommendations for the draft Tentative List were 
reviewed by a subcommittee of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO--
which included Federal agency representatives drawn from the Federal 
Interagency Panel on World Heritage--on September 27, 2007. The 
subcommittee presented its recommendations to the full Commission in a 
conference call on October 4, 2007, in which the public participated. 
The recommendations by the National Commission, including those which 
differ from the NPS staff recommendations were published for comment in 
the Federal Register on October 31, 2007 (FR 72, 210: 61664-61666) and 
also posted on the National Commission's Web site where they may be 
consulted at: http://www.state.gov/p/io/unesco.
    Nearly all the comments received from Federal, State, and local 
government executive and legislative officials, and other stakeholders 
supported the inclusion of sites in their States and communities.

Final Approval and Transmittal to the World Heritage Centre

    With the benefit of the National Commission's advice and the 
additional public comments, the final Tentative List was approved by 
the Secretary of the Interior, and transmitted to the World Heritage 
Centre by the Department of State on January 24, 2008. This submittal 
complied with the required timeline for Tentative List submittal at 
least one year prior to the final submittal of any nominations of sites 
from the Tentative List by January 30, 2009.

Conclusion

    Because UNESCO asks countries to wait a year before submitting 
nominations from their tentative lists, the first time that any U.S. 
World Heritage nominations drawn from the new List can go forward will 
be at the beginning of 2009 with consideration by the World Heritage 
Committee no earlier than the summer of 2010. The Committee, composed 
of representatives of 21 nations elected as the governing body of the 
World Heritage Convention, makes the final decisions on which 
nominations to accept on the World Heritage List at its annual meeting 
each summer.

U.S. World Heritage Tentative List 2008

Cultural Sites (9)

Civil Rights Movement Sites, Alabama
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery.
Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham.
16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham.
Dayton Aviation Sites, Ohio
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, including:

--Huffman Prairie.
--Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
--Wright Cycle Company and Wright & Wright Printing, Dayton.
--Wright Hall (including Wright Flyer III), Dayton.

Hawthorn Hill, Dayton.
Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio
Fort Ancient State Memorial, Warren County.
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, near Chillicothe.
Newark Earthworks State Historic Site, Newark and Heath, including:

--Wright Earthworks.
--The Octagon Earthworks.
--Great Circle Earthworks.
Jefferson (Thomas) Buildings, Virginia
Poplar Forest, Bedford County.
Virginia State Capitol, Richmond.

(Proposed jointly as an extension to the World Heritage listing of 
Monticello and the University of Virginia Historic District.)
Mount Vernon, Virginia
Poverty Point National Monument and State Historic Site, Louisiana
San Antonio Franciscan Missions, Texas
Mission San Antonio de Valero (The Alamo).
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, including:

--Mission Concepcion.
--Mission San Jose.
--Mission San Juan.
--Mission Espada (including Rancho de las Cabras).
Serpent Mound, Ohio
Wright (Frank Lloyd) Buildings
Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona.
Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, California.
Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California.
Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois.
Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York.
Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania.
S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research.
Tower, Racine, Wisconsin.
Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin.

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Mixed Natural and Cultural Site (1)

Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii

Natural Sites (4)

Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, American Samoa
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 470 a-1, a-2, d; 36 CFR 73)

    Dated: March 6, 2008.
Lyle Laverty,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
 [FR Doc. E8-5499 Filed 3-18-08; 8:45 am]
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