[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 123 (Tuesday, June 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38078-38081]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15586]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-OIA-WASO-10326:0050-673]


U.S. Nominations to the World Heritage List: San Antonio 
Franciscan Missions

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Second Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the decision to request that a draft 
nomination of the San Antonio Franciscan Missions for inclusion on the 
World Heritage List be prepared. The decision is the result of review 
of public comments submitted in response to an earlier notice and of 
consultation with the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage. The 
notice also summarizes the National Park Service's evaluation of public 
comments on other candidates for nomination to the World Heritage List.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809 or April 
Brooks, 202-354-1808. To request paper copies of documents discussed in 
this notice, contact April Brooks, Office of International Affairs, 
NPS, 1201 Eye Street NW., (0050) Washington, DC 20005. Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 38079]]

What is the World Heritage List?

    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 preservation of natural and 
cultural heritage sites of global significance proposed by President 
Richard M. Nixon in 1971, and the U.S. was the first nation to ratify 
it. The United States served its fourth term on the World Heritage 
Committee from 2005-2009. The Committee, composed of representatives of 
21 nations periodically 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.
    There are 936 sites in 153 of the 189 signatory countries. 
Currently there are 21 World Heritage Sites in the United States. U.S. 
participation and the roles of the Department and the National Park 
Service (NPS) are authorized by Title IV of the Historic Preservation 
Act Amendments of 1980 and conducted in accordance with 36 CFR 73--
World Heritage Convention. NPS serves as the principal technical agency 
for World Heritage in the Department, which has the lead role for the 
U.S. Government in the implementation of the Convention and manages all 
or parts of 17 of the 21 U.S. World Heritage Sites, including 
Yellowstone National Park, the Everglades, and the Statue of Liberty.

What is the tentative list?

    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. A country cannot 
nominate a property unless it has been on its tentative list for a 
minimum of a year. Countries are limited to nominating no more than two 
sites in any given year. If two sites are nominated, at least one must 
be a natural site or a cultural landscape.
    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. 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.

How the Nomination Process Works

    NPS regulations at 36 CFR part 73 establish the process for making 
nominations to the World Heritage List. This process ensures that the 
Congress, property owners, and the public are notified of and can 
comment on proposed nominations. Under the process, the Department 
notifies the public as follows:
     The Department publishes a first notice in the Federal 
Register containing the tentative list and asks for recommendations 
regarding which properties on it should be nominated.
     The Department reviews comments received as a result of 
the notice, consults with the Federal Interagency Panel on World 
Heritage and decides which properties should be nominated next.
     The Department publishes a second notice containing the 
list of proposed nominations.
    This is the second notice as required by 36 CFR 73.7(f) on the 
proposed nomination of the San Antonio Franciscan Missions.
    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, an updated tentative list. The tentative list was 
published in the Federal Register on March 19, 2008. The process for 
developing the U.S. tentative list is detailed on the NPS Office of 
International Affairs Web site at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm.

First Notice Published on March 5, 2012

    On March 5, 2012, the Department requested public comment on which 
property or properties on the U.S. World Heritage tentative list should 
be nominated next by the United States to the World Heritage List. This 
was the First Notice in the Federal Register, as required by 36 CFR 
73.7(c). The tentative list consists of properties that appear to 
qualify for World Heritage status and that may be considered for 
nomination by the United States to the World Heritage List. The current 
tentative list was transmitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on 
January 24, 2008.
    In the notice published on March 5, 2012, the Department requested 
comment on which properties on the U.S. World Heritage tentative list 
should be nominated to the World Heritage List. After reviewing public 
comments and consulting with the Federal Interagency Panel for World 
Heritage, the Department has selected the San Antonio Franciscan 
Missions as a proposed nomination to the World Heritage List. With the 
assistance of the Department, the owners of this group of sites are 
encouraged to prepare a complete nomination document in accordance with 
36 CFR Part 73 and the nomination format required by the World Heritage 
Committee.
    Two other properties, ``Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings'' and 
``Poverty Point State Historic Site and National Monument,'' were 
selected to prepare nominations in 2011, and these documents are 
currently being drafted.
    The Panel also considered comments on possible additions to the 
tentative list. The Department, on advice of the Panel, will work with 
the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO (the United Nations 
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to develop a process 
to revise the tentative list by 2016.
    A discussion of the decisions, the nomination process and schedule, 
a summary of the comments received, and a description of the properties 
comprising the Missions group follows.

Recommendations of the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage

    The Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage assists the 
Department in implementing the Convention by making recommendations on 
U.S. World Heritage policy, procedures, and nominations. The Panel is 
chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks and 
includes representatives from various Federal Departments and agencies 
with Federal land management and policy-making responsibilities. The 
Panel made its recommendations to the Department on the next U.S. World 
Heritage nomination at a meeting on May 1, 2012.
    The Panel agreed by consensus to support the preparation of a 
nomination at this time for the San Antonio Franciscan Missions. The 
Panel reviewed the progress of the two nominations already under 
preparation and the public suggestions for nominations for other 
properties at this time from the U.S. World Heritage tentative list. 
They did not recommend the preparation of nominations for any 
additional or alternate properties,

[[Page 38080]]

although they acknowledged the substantial effort underway to prepare 
for a nomination of the ``Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks'' in Ohio. 
Panel members emphasized the considerable work and cost involved in 
developing nomination documents, and wanted to ensure that the number 
of nominations under development will not exceed the Department's 
capacity to ensure the high quality that will give them the best 
possible chance of success when considered by the World Heritage 
Committee.

Decision To Request the Preparation of a New U.S. World Heritage 
Nomination

    The Department considered all comments received during the comment 
period as well as the advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for World 
Heritage in making the decisions to request drafts for a new U.S. World 
Heritage nomination.
    A brief description is provided for this potential nomination along 
with a summary of the comments that were received and considered as 
part of this process. The Department will decide whether to nominate 
this group of sites to the World Heritage List based on a complete 
draft World Heritage nomination, when it is available. A draft World 
Heritage nomination is requested of the owners for the following sites:
    San Antonio Franciscan Missions:

 Mission San Antonio (The Alamo)
 Mission Concepci[oacute]n
 Mission San Jos[eacute]
 Mission San Juan
 Mission Espada

    The modern city of San Antonio, Texas, has grown up around this 
group of five Spanish Roman Catholic mission complexes that were built 
in stages from 1724 to 1782 as open villages within walled compounds. 
This unusual grouping of missions is a uniquely complete illustration 
of the experience of the Franciscan missionaries and their interaction 
with the indigenous peoples on the northern frontier of the Spanish 
American empire in the 18th century. The religious, economic, and 
technological systems of the missionaries created settled communities 
that became the basis of the U.S. Southwest's distinctive ethnic 
mixture. The churches in the mission complexes, except for Mission San 
Antonio, are still in active use.
    The Department received a large number of comments on this 
proposal, including over 15,000 expressions of support in response to 
an appeal by the National Parks Conservation Association. Specific 
comments by organizations and individuals involved in the nomination 
effort cited a broad range of civic support, including funding and 
other resources from both governmental and private sources. One comment 
recommended that the group should be considered as an extension to the 
Mexican missions of the Sierra Gorda already on the World Heritage 
List, and another said that the justification for World Heritage 
listing needs to address the context of Spanish missions in the 
Americas, and that it will be important to define the boundary 
carefully to support the group's integrity; also that the system of 
acequias may merit nomination on their own. The Panel also discussed 
concerns and questions about the nature and appropriateness of 
reconstruction work that was done at the missions in the 1930s.
    The Department notes that a recent meeting of experts in the topic 
in San Antonio, including Mexican World Heritage officials, concluded 
that the justification for the San Antonio missions would be 
sufficiently different from that of the Mexican listing that they 
should be nominated separately. Regarding the justification and other 
related issues, the Department is committed to working closely with 
those preparing the nomination to ensure that these issues, as well as 
the questions regarding the 1930s reconstruction work, will be 
appropriately addressed.

Decision To Study Revisions to the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List

    Over the past two years, both during official public comment 
periods and otherwise, approximately 100 suggestions for potential 
additions to the tentative list have been made to the Department. A 
number of suggestions have also been made regarding the methodology of 
selecting properties for the tentative list. The Operational Guidelines 
of the World Heritage Committee recommend that countries update their 
tentative lists approximately once every 10 years. The current U.S. 
tentative list was established in 2008.
    The Department, on advice of the Panel, will initiate a process in 
cooperation with the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, a commission 
of the U.S. Department of State, to develop an appropriate method to 
update the U.S. tentative list with a target of completing the update 
in 2016, the year of the centennial of the National Park Service.

Next Steps in the Nomination of the Franciscan Missions

    A draft World Heritage nomination for the ``San Antonio Franciscan 
Missions'' may now be prepared. If it is submitted in substantially 
complete draft form to the NPS by May 1, 2013, a nomination may 
potentially be submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre by the 
United States by February 1, 2014, if the Department deems the 
nomination ready. The World Heritage nomination format may be found at 
the World Heritage Centre Web site at http://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines. NPS will coordinate the review and evaluation of the draft 
nomination. Preliminary drafts should be submitted to the NPS for 
review prior to the complete draft referred to above.
    Following NPS review of the draft, the Department may submit 
complete draft nominations to the World Heritage Centre for technical 
review by September 30 of any year. The Centre will then provide 
comments by November 15 of that year. The Federal Interagency Panel for 
World Heritage will review draft nominations following receipt of the 
Centre's comments. The Interagency Panel will evaluate the adequacy of 
the nominations, the significance of the properties and whether the 
nominations should be forwarded to the World Heritage Centre for formal 
consideration for listing. Final submittal to the World Heritage Centre 
by the Department through the Department of State is required by 
February 1 of any year in order for the properties to be considered in 
the next cycle of nominations to the World Heritage List. Submittal of 
final nominations must be made no later than that date for the World 
Heritage Committee to be able to consider them at its annual meeting in 
the summer of the following year.
    Protective measures must be in place before a property may be 
nominated as provided for in 36 CFR 73.13. If a nomination cannot be 
completed in accordance with this timeline, work may continue into the 
following year(s) for subsequent submission to UNESCO.

Comments on Other Sites Included in the Notice of March 5, 2012

    In the notice published on March 5, 2012 (77 FR 13147-13149), the 
Department requested comments on which of the sites on the tentative 
list should be nominated next by the United States. Comments were 
accepted through March 19, 2012, fifteen days from the date of 
publication of the notice in the Federal Register. Respondents were 
asked to address the

[[Page 38081]]

qualifications of the tentative list properties for nomination by the 
United States to the World Heritage List.
    A summary of the comments received appears below organized by site, 
along with the Department's responses as appropriate. Comments on the 
site that is now authorized to prepare a nomination appear in the 
discussion of the decision above. The Department received 37 comments 
in addition to over 15,000 responses to an appeal from the National 
Parks Conservation Association to support the San Antonio Franciscan 
Missions. The comments were also available to the Federal Interagency 
Panel for World Heritage and to the Department of the Interior 
officials who have selected the properties that are asked to prepare 
nominations. The full texts of all the comments are available upon 
request.
    Comments were also sought on potential additions to the tentative 
list. These comments are on file to be considered by the Federal 
Interagency Panel and the Department in due course.

Comments on Cultural Sites Included in the March 5 Notice

    Civil Rights Movement Sites, Alabama. Dexter Ave. King Memorial 
Baptist Church, Montgomery; Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham; 16th St. 
Baptist Church, Birmingham:
    The Department received two comments. Both recommended that a 
variety of additional sites be added to the grouping to more 
comprehensively represent the topic, and one of them recommended that 
the Department undertake this work and nominate the sites in 2013.
    The Department agrees that additional sites will need to be added 
before this proposal could be considered for nomination, and plans to 
explore such an effort with the assistance of the U.S. National 
Commission for UNESCO. The Panel also noted that it would be necessary 
to justify another World Heritage criterion in addition to the 
tentatively identified criterion (vi), for association with ideas and 
events, which the World Heritage Committee no longer accepts as a sole 
criterion.
    Dayton Aviation Sites, Ohio: Wright Cycle Company and Wright & 
Wright Printing; Huffman Prairie Flying Field; Wright Hall; Hawthorn 
Hill. The Department received three comments: one expressed general 
support. The others recommended that the Wright Brothers National 
Memorial at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina be added. One also suggested 
inclusion of the original Wright Flyer also be included and that 
Hawthorne Hill's inclusion should be reconsidered; the other suggested 
consideration of a transnational serial nomination with other countries 
of early flight resources.
    The Department acknowledges that some of the components of this 
proposal may have difficulties in meeting the technical requirements of 
the World Heritage Committee, and that such issues would have to be 
resolved before a nomination could be made. The Wright Brothers 
National Memorial was nominated unsuccessfully in 1981 by the United 
States, and the Department believes that the issues raised at that time 
may still affect a potential nomination.
    Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio: Fort Ancient State Memorial; 
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park; Newark Earthworks State 
Memorial. The Department received 10 comments: three expressed general 
support, and five, including from the organizations that own the sites, 
provided more specific information on the ability of the sites to 
satisfy the World Heritage criteria and of the proponents to prepare a 
nomination. These include a workshop held at the sites in November 
2011, which discussed how to address the criteria and issues of 
integrity and authenticity, and concluded that they would not attempt 
to include Serpent Mound in the proposal.
    Follow-up actions from the workshop have included establishment of 
a ``Friends of the Ohio Earthworks'' organization, which is raising 
funds and hiring a consultant to work on the nomination. Tribal 
government support was also cited. The other two comments recommended 
that this type of site is adequately represented already, and should 
not be nominated at this time, or should be proposed as an extension to 
Cahokia Mounds, along with Serpent Mound and Poverty Point.
    The Department acknowledges the substantial work being done by the 
committee in Ohio, and believes that this group of sites has good 
prospects for nomination. Regarding the other comments, the Department 
notes that Poverty Point has already been authorized to prepare a 
separate nomination, and has determined that the archeological sites in 
Louisiana, Illinois and Ohio are sufficiently culturally distinct to 
merit separate World Heritage listing.
    Thomas Jefferson Buildings, Virginia: Poplar Forest, Bedford 
County; State Capitol, Richmond: The Department received two comments. 
One stated that this would be the most straightforward nomination from 
the properties now on the tentative list, and would complete the 
Jefferson theme. The other recommended against the extension of a 
property already listed as a priority for nomination, and noted that 
Poplar Forest may not add greatly to the listing. The Department 
acknowledges that the issue raised in the latter comment will need to 
be considered.
    Mount Vernon, Virginia. The Department received two comments with 
various suggestions for how this site, which was unsuccessfully 
nominated in 2009, might be reformulated for possible nomination again 
in the future.
    Serpent Mound State Memorial, Ohio. The Department received three 
comments: one expressed general support. The other two recommended that 
this type of site is adequately represented already, and should not be 
nominated at this time, or should be proposed as an extension to 
Cahokia Mounds, along with Hopewell Ceremonial Culture and Poverty 
Point. The Department notes that Poverty Point has already been 
authorized to prepare a separate nomination; and has determined that 
the archeological sites in Louisiana, Illinois and Ohio are 
sufficiently culturally distinct to merit separate World Heritage 
listing.

Natural Sites

    No comments were received on these four sites:

 Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary
 Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
 Petrified Forest National Park
 White Sands National Monument

Before including your address, phone number, email 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.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 470 a-1, a-2, d; 36 CFR 73.

    Dated: June 4, 2012.
Rachel Jacobson,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2012-15586 Filed 6-25-12; 8:45 am]
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