[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16492-16493]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06121]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-OIA-DTS-33245; PPWODIREI0-PIN00IO15.XI0000-223P104215]


Submission of U.S. Nomination to the World Heritage List

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior has submitted a nomination to 
the World Heritage List for the ``Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks,'' 
consisting of eight properties in Ohio, five of which are in Hopewell 
Culture National Historical Park in Ross County: Hopeton Earthworks, 
Mound City, High Bank Works, Hopewell Mound Group and Seip Earthworks; 
and three that are National Historic Landmarks: Fort Ancient in Licking 
County, owned by the State of Ohio, and the Octagon Earthworks and 
Great Circle Earthworks in Warren County, owned by the state-chartered 
Ohio History Connection. This is the third notice required by the 
Department of the Interior's World Heritage Program regulations.

ADDRESSES: To request paper copies of documents discussed in this 
notice, contact April Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National 
Park Service, 1849 C St. NW, Room 2415, Washington, DC 20240 (202) 354-
1808, or sending electronic mail (Email) to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Morris, Chief, Office of 
International Affairs at (202) 354-1803 or Jonathan Putnam, 
International Cooperation Specialist, at (202) 354-1809. Complete 
information about U.S. participation in the World Heritage Program and 
the process used to develop the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List is 
posted on the National Park Service, Office of International Affairs 
website at: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This constitutes the official notice of the 
decision by the United States Department of the Interior to submit a 
nomination to the World Heritage List for the ``Hopewell Ceremonial 
Earthworks,'' as enumerated in the Summary above, and serves as the 
Third Notice referred to in 36 CFR 73.7(j) of the World Heritage 
Program regulations (36 CFR part 73).
    The nomination was submitted through the U.S. Department of State 
to the World Heritage Centre of the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for consideration by the 
World Heritage Committee, which will likely occur at the Committee's 
46th annual session in mid-2023.
    This property has been selected from the U.S. World Heritage 
Tentative List, which comprises 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, as required by the World 
Heritage Committee's Operational Guidelines.
    The U.S. World Heritage Tentative List appeared in a Federal 
Register notice on December 9, 2016 (81FR 89143) with a request for 
public comment on possible nominations from the 19 sites on the 
Tentative List. A summary of the comments received, the Department of 
the Interior's responses to them and the Department's decision to 
request preparation of this nomination appeared in a subsequent Federal 
Register Notice published on May 25, 2018 (83 FR 24337-24338). These 
are the First and Second Notices required by 36 CFR 73.7(c) and (f).
    In making the decision to submit this U.S. World Heritage 
nomination, pursuant to 36 CFR 73.7(h) and (i), the Department's 
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks evaluated the draft 
nomination and the recommendations of the Federal Interagency Panel for 
World Heritage. She determined that the property meets the 
prerequisites for nomination by the United States to the World Heritage 
List that are detailed in 36 CFR part 73. The properties are nationally 
significant, being part of a unit of the National Park System 
established by Act of Congress or having been designated by the 
Department of the Interior as individual National Historic Landmarks. 
The owners of the properties have concurred in writing with the 
nomination, and each property is well protected legally and 
functionally as documented in the nomination. It appears to meet two of 
the World Heritage criteria for cultural properties.
    The ``Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks'' are nominated under World 
Heritage cultural criteria (i) and (iii), as provided in 36 CFR 
73.9(b)(1), as a group, or ``series,'' that collectively appears to 
justify criterion (i) by demonstrating a masterpiece of human creative 
genius: A 2,000-year-old series of precise squares, circles, and 
octagons and a hilltop sculpted to enclose a vast plaza. They were 
built on an enormous scale and the geometric forms are consistently 
deployed across great distances and encode alignments with both the 
sun's cycles and the far more complex patterns of the moon. The series 
also justifies criterion (iii) in providing testimony to its builders, 
people now referred to as the Hopewell Culture: Dispersed, 
non[hyphen]hierarchical groups whose way of life was transitioning from 
foraging to farming. The earthworks were the center of a 
continent[hyphen]wide sphere of influence and interaction and have 
yielded exceptionally finely crafted ritual objects fashioned from raw 
materials obtained from distant places. The properties, both 
individually and as a group, also meet the World Heritage requirements 
for integrity and authenticity.
    The World Heritage List is an international list of cultural and 
natural properties nominated by the signatories to the World Heritage 
Convention (1972). The World Heritage 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. Although the United States is not a member of UNESCO, it 
continues to participate in the World Heritage Convention, which is an 
independent treaty. There are 1,154 World Heritage sites in 167 of the 
194 signatory countries. The United States has 24 sites inscribed on 
the World Heritage List.
    U.S. participation and the role of the Department of the Interior 
are authorized by title IV of the National Historic Preservation Act 
Amendments of 1980, Public Law 96-515, 94 Stat. 2987, 3000, codified as 
amended at 54 U.S.C. 307101, and conducted by the Department through 
the National Park Service in accordance with the regulations at 36 CFR 
part 73 which implement the Convention pursuant to the 1980 Amendments.

[[Page 16493]]

    Neither inclusion in the Tentative List nor inscription as a World 
Heritage Site imposes legal restrictions on owners or neighbors of 
sites, nor do they 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. federal and local laws, as applicable.
    Authority: 54 U.S.C. 307101; 36 CFR part 73.

Shannon A. Estenoz,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2022-06121 Filed 3-22-22; 8:45 am]
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