[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 14, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77901-77903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31316]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[0050-XXXX-673]


30-Day Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment on U.S. 
Nominations to the World Heritage List and Potential Additions to the 
U.S. World Heritage Tentative List

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This is a first notice for the public to comment on the next 
potential U.S. nominations from the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List 
to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 
(UNESCO) World Heritage List, and on possible additions to the 
Tentative List. This notice complies with 36 CFR 73.7(c).
    The U.S. World Heritage Tentative List (formerly referred to as the 
Indicative Inventory) appears at the end of this notice. The current 
Tentative List was transmitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on 
January 24, 2008, and includes 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. Any property nominated to the 
World Heritage List must have been on the Tentative List for at least a 
year prior to its nomination, according to the Operational Guidelines 
of the World Heritage Committee.

[[Page 77902]]

    The preparation of the Tentative List provides 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 U.S. Department of the Interior is now considering whether to 
nominate any of the properties on the Tentative List to the World 
Heritage List. The Department will consider public comments received 
during this comment period and the advice of the Federal Interagency 
Panel for World Heritage in making a final decision on future 
nominations. Comments may also be made on suggestions for additions to 
the Tentative List, although the Department is not required to make 
additions to the List.

DATES: Comments upon whether to nominate any of the properties on the 
Tentative List or for properties to be added to the Tentative List will 
be accepted on or before thirty days from the date of publication of 
this notice in the Federal Register.
    If a site is selected by the Department for nomination, public 
notice will be made of the decision. The site's owner(s) 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. Legal protective measures must be in place before a property may be 
nominated. Any such nominations must be received from the preparers by 
the National Park Service in substantially complete draft form by a 
date on or near July 15, 2011. Such draft nominations will be reviewed, 
amended if necessary, and if considered by the Department to be 
technically and substantively adequate, provided to the World Heritage 
Centre for technical review no later than September 30, 2011. The 
Centre would then provide comments by November 14, 2011, with final 
submittal to the World Heritage Centre by the Department of the 
Interior through the Department of State by January 30, 2012. Any 
nomination submitted by that date will be considered by the World 
Heritage Committee at its meeting in the summer of 2013. 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. If a nomination 
cannot be completed in accordance with this timeline, work may continue 
on the nomination for possible submission to UNESCO in a subsequent 
year.

ADDRESSES: Please provide all comments directly to Jonathan Putnam, 
Office of International Affairs, National 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 an address, phone 
number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in a 
comment, please be aware that the entire comment--including personal 
identifying information--may be made public at any time. While you can 
request that personal identifying information be withheld from public 
review, it may not be possible to comply with this request.
    Comments on whether to nominate any of the properties on the 
Tentative List or whether to add properties to the Tentative List 
should address the qualifications of the properties for World Heritage 
listing. The World Heritage nomination criteria can be found on the 
National Park Service Office of International Affairs Web site http://www.nps.gov/oia. Suggestions for additions to the Tentative List should 
also address the U.S. legal prerequisites noted in the Supplementary 
Information below.
    All public comments are welcomed and will be summarized and 
provided to Department of the Interior officials, who will obtain the 
advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage before 
making any selection of properties for World Heritage nomination. The 
selection may include the following considerations:
    (i) How well the particular type of property (i.e., theme or 
region) is represented on the World Heritage List;
    (ii) The balance between cultural and natural properties already on 
the List and those under consideration;
    (iii) Opportunities the property affords for public visitation, 
interpretation, and education;
    (iv) Potential threats to the property's integrity or its current 
state of preservation; and,
    (v) Other relevant factors, including public interest and awareness 
of the property, and the likelihood of being able to complete a 
satisfactory nomination according to the timeline described above.

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/worldheritage.htm.
    Only the 13 properties or groups of properties included in the U.S. 
Tentative List are eligible to be considered for nomination by the 
United States to the World Heritage List at this time. One property on 
the List, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, was nominated in 
2009 and listed as a World Heritage Site in 2010. Brief descriptions of 
the properties appear on the Web site just noted.
    To request a paper copy of the U.S. Tentative List, 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/nominations.

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. The United States has served several terms on the elected 21-nation 
World Heritage Committee, but is not currently on the Committee. There 
are 911 sites in 151 of the 187 signatory countries. Currently there 
are 21 World Heritage Sites in the United States.
    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 21 U.S. World Heritage Sites currently listed, including 
Yellowstone National Park, Everglades National Park, 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 a country

[[Page 77903]]

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 one 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 
subject only to U.S. laws. Inclusion in the Tentative List merely 
indicates 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 schedule its work over the 
long term.
    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.
    In order to be included, a proposed site must meet several U.S. 
prerequisites in addition to appearing to meet the stringent World 
Heritage criteria of international importance. The U.S. prerequisites 
include 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 is 
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 
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 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. 470a-1, 
a-2, d) and 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.
    NPS staff recommendations were provided to the World Heritage 
Tentative List Subcommittee of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO 
for review.
    The subcommittee made recommendations to the full Commission, whose 
recommendations were published for comment in the Federal Register on 
October 31, 2007.

U.S. World Heritage Tentative List 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 (part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base)
--Wright Cycle Company and Wright & Wright Printing, Dayton
--Wright Hall (housing the 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 Concepci[oacute]n
--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

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: December 6, 2010.
Thomas L. Strickland,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2010-31316 Filed 12-13-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P