[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 184 (Monday, September 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65748-65749]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20719]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-OIA-DTS-36352; PPWODIREI0-PIN00IO15.XI0000]


U.S. Nomination to the World Heritage List: Okefenokee National 
Wildlife Refuge

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the decision to request that the 
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia prepare a draft 
nomination for inclusion on the United Nations Educational, Scientific 
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The decision is 
the result of consultation with the Federal Interagency Panel for World 
Heritage and the review of public comments submitted in response to an 
earlier notice. This notice complies with applicable 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: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809. 
Information on the U.S. World Heritage program can be found at: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm.

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 preservation of natural and 
cultural heritage sites of global significance. The World Heritage 
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. There are 1,157 sites in 167 countries. Currently there 
are 24 World Heritage Sites in the United States. U.S. participation 
and the roles of the Department of the Interior (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. Each State Party to the Convention 
maintains a Tentative List, periodically updated, of properties that 
are considered suitable for nomination. Only properties on the 
Tentative List are eligible to officially prepare nominations that the 
Department may consider for submission. Okefenokee National Wildlife 
Refuge has been included on the U.S. Tentative List since 1982. Neither 
inclusion in the 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.
    The Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks (Assistant 
Secretary) initiates the process to nominate U.S. sites to the World 
Heritage List by publishing a notice in the Federal Register seeking 
public comment on which properties on the U.S. Tentative List should be 
nominated next by the United States. The first notice (88 FR 37270, as 
required by 36 CFR 73.7(c)) was published on June 7, 2023. Following 
the publication of the first notice, the Assistant Secretary consults 
the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage to review the public 
comments submitted and make a recommendation. If the Panel recommends 
that a property be nominated and the recommendation is accepted by the 
Assistant Secretary, a second notice is issued. This is the second 
notice as required by 36 CFR 73.7(f) on the proposed nomination. The 
Panel 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.

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

    The Department received over 10,300 comments in response to the 
first notice, many of them regarding Okefenokee

[[Page 65749]]

National Wildlife Refuge, all of which were expressions of support from 
the property owners, elected representatives at local, state, and 
Federal levels, individuals, institutions, and museums. There were no 
comments against nominating any property, including this site. 
Additional comments supported the nomination of other sites, in 
particular sites associated with Civil Rights Movement history.
    The Department considered all comments received as well as the 
advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage.
    The Department has selected the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 
as a proposed U.S. nomination to the World Heritage List. With the 
assistance of the Department, including the completion of appropriate 
consultation with Native American Tribal governments, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, along with supporting organizations, is encouraged to 
develop a complete nomination, in accordance with 36 CFR part 73 and 
the nomination format required by the World Heritage Committee.
    Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, consists of more than 
400,000 acres embracing 92% of the Okefenokee Swamp, a large 
hydrologically intact swamp that is the source of two rivers, one that 
flows into the Atlantic and the other into the Gulf of Mexico. The 
Refuge also has extensive and essentially undisturbed peat deposits.
    Okefenokee is one of the world's largest naturally driven 
freshwater ecosystems with a diversity of habitat types, including 21 
vegetative types. The Refuge's fauna is also renowned worldwide for its 
diversity of amphibians and reptiles, mammals, birds, fishes, and 
invertebrates and perhaps as many as 1,000 species of moths. Unlike 
many other significant wetland areas, the swamp is the source of rivers 
rather than their recipient, as in a delta, and therefore is generally 
unaffected by most disturbances to natural hydrology and water flow. 
The Refuge's undisturbed peat beds store valuable information on 
environmental conditions over the past 5,000 years and are a 
significant source of information related to global changes.

Next Steps

    A draft World Heritage nomination for Okefenokee National Wildlife 
Refuge may now be prepared, in consultation with the National Park 
Service's Office of International Affairs. The NPS will coordinate the 
review and evaluation of the draft nomination to ensure it meets the 
requirements of 36 CFR 73, and will cooperate with the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service and other partners. Following NPS review of a complete 
draft nomination, the Department may submit it 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 a draft nomination 
following receipt of the Centre's comments and recommend to the 
Department whether the nomination should be formally submitted for 
consideration by the World Heritage Committee. Submittal to the World 
Heritage Centre by the Department through the Department of State can 
be made by February 1 of any year (prior to 2026, at which time a new 
procedure of the World Heritage Committee will take effect); the World 
Heritage Committee would then consider the nomination at its annual 
meeting in the summer of the following year, after an evaluation by an 
official Advisory Body to the Committee.
    Authority: 54 U.S.C. 307101; 36 CFR part 73.

Shannon A. Estenoz,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2023-20719 Filed 9-22-23; 8:45 am]
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