[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 126, 112th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 8868--SEPT. 21, 2012

Proclamation 8868 of September 21, 2012

Establishment of the Chimney Rock National Monument

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The Chimney Rock site in southwestern Colorado incorporates spiritual,
historic, and scientific resources of great value and significance. A
thousand years ago, the vast Chaco civilization was drawn to the site's
soaring massive rock pinnacles, Chimney Rock and Companion Rock, that
rise hundreds of feet from the valley floor to an elevation of 7,600
feet. High atop ancient sandstone formations, Ancestral Pueblo People
built exquisite stone buildings, including the highest ceremonial
``great house'' in the Southwest.
This landscape, encompassing both Chimney Rock and Companion Rock, and
known today as Chimney Rock, holds deep spiritual significance for
modern Pueblo and tribal communities and was one of the largest
communities of the Pueblo II era (900-1150 A.D.). The Chimney Rock site
also includes nationally significant archaeology, archaeoastronomy,
visual and landscape characteristics, and geological and biological
features, as well as objects of deep cultural and educational value.
In 1100 A.D., the area's cultivated fields and settlements extended from
the valley floors to the mesa tops. The pinnacles, Chimney Rock and
Companion Rock, dominated the landscape. Today, peregrine falcons nest
on the pinnacles and soar over ancient structures, the dramatic
landscape, and the forested slopes of the Piedra River and Stolsteimer
Creek drainages, which are all framed by the high peaks of the San Juan
Mountains.
Migratory mule deer and elk herds pass through the area each fall and
spring as they have for thousands of years, and live there during the
critical winter months. Merriam's turkeys, river otters, bald eagles,
golden eagles, mountain lions, bats, woodpeckers, and many species of
migratory birds also live in the area among the Ponderosa Pine, pinon,
and juniper. Several desert plants usually found farther south grow
there, including a species of cholla cactus that does not occur
naturally


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outside the Sonoran Desert and is believed to be associated
with deliberate cultivation by the Ancestral Pueblo People.
The Chimney Rock site is one of the best recognized archaeoastronomical
resources in North America. Virtually all building clusters have views
of Chimney Rock and Companion Rock, which frame multiple astronomical
alignments and illustrate the Ancestral Pueblo People's knowledge of
astronomy. Hundreds of archaeological ruins and buildings from the
Pueblo II period are within the boundaries of the site, including a
Chaco-style communal multi-room ``great house'' built in the late
eleventh century to command observations of the surrounding landscape
and astronomical phenomena.
The Chimney Rock site features an isolated Chacoan settlement among a
complex system of dispersed communities bound by economic, political,
and religious interdependence centered in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico,
about 100 miles south of Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock continues to
contribute to our knowledge about the Ancestral Pueblo People and their
understanding and command of their environment.
Today, descendants of the Ancestral Pueblo People return to this
important place of cultural continuity to visit their ancestors and for
other spiritual and traditional purposes. It is a living landscape that
shapes those who visit it and brings people together across time. Since
the 1920s, there has been significant archaeological interest in Chimney
Rock. Because it does not appear to have been reoccupied after the early
1100s, Chimney Rock offers a valuable window into the cultural
developments of the Pueblo II era and affords opportunities to
understand how geology, ecology, and archaeology interrelate. Because
visitors travel from areas near and far, these lands support a growing
travel and tourism sector that is a source of economic opportunity for
the community, especially businesses in the region. They also help to
attract new residents, retirees, and businesses that will further
diversify the local economy.
In 1970, Chimney Rock was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, and its spectacular landscape has been open to visitors ever
since.
WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C.
431) (the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in his
discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks,
historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or
scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled
by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to
reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all
cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper
care and management of the objects to be protected;
WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the objects
of scientific and historic interest at Chimney Rock;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Antiquities
Act, hereby proclaim, set apart, and reserve as the Chimney Rock
National Monument (monument) the objects identified above and all lands
and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government of the
United States within the boundaries described on the accompanying map
entitled ``Chimney Rock National Monument'' and the ac-


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companying legal
description, which are attached to and form a part of this proclamation,
for the purpose of protecting those objects. These reserved Federal
lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 4,726 acres, which
is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of
the objects to be protected.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the
monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry,
location, selection, sale, leasing, or other disposition under the
public lands laws, including withdrawal from location, entry, and patent
under the mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to
mineral and geothermal leasing. Lands and interests in lands within the
monument's boundaries not owned or controlled by the United States shall
be reserved as part of the monument upon acquisition of ownership or
control by the United States.
The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing rights.
The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior shall manage development
under existing oil and gas leases within the monument, subject to valid
existing rights, so as not to create any new impacts that would
interfere with the proper care and management of the objects protected
by this proclamation.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the valid
existing water rights of any party, including the United States.
The Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) shall manage the monument
through the Forest Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities,
consistent with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. The
Secretary shall prepare, within 3 years of the date of this
proclamation, a management plan for the monument, and shall promulgate
such regulations for its management as deemed appropriate. The plan will
provide for protection and interpretation of the scientific and historic
objects identified above, and continued public access to those objects,
consistent with their protection. The plan will protect and preserve
access by tribal members for traditional cultural, spiritual, and food-
and medicine-gathering purposes, consistent with the purposes of the
monument, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
The Secretary shall prepare a transportation plan that addresses actions
necessary to protect the objects identified in this proclamation,
including road closures and travel restrictions. For the purpose of
protecting the objects identified above, the Secretary shall limit all
motorized and mechanized vehicle use to designated roads, except for
emergency or authorized administrative purposes.
The Secretary shall, in developing any management plans and any
management rules and regulations governing the monument, consult with
the Secretary of the Interior. The final decision to issue any
management plans and any management rules and regulations rests with the
Secretary of Agriculture. Management plans or rules and regulations
developed by the Secretary of the Interior governing uses within
national parks or other national monuments administered by the Secretary
of the Interior shall not apply within the monument.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the
jurisdiction of the State of Colorado with respect to fish and wildlife
management.


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Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the
rights of any Indian tribe.
Laws, regulations, and policies followed by the Forest Service in
issuing and administering grazing permits or leases on all lands under
its jurisdiction shall continue to apply with regard to the lands in the
monument.
The Secretary may carry out vegetative management treatments within the
monument, except that timber harvest and prescribed fire may only be
used when the Secretary determines it appropriate to address the risk of
wildfire, insect infestation, or disease that would endanger the
monument or imperil public safety.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing
withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national
monument shall be the dominant reservation.
Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate,
injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate
or settle upon any of the lands thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of
September, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
seventh.
BARACK OBAMA




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