[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 2 (Monday, January 17, 2000)]
[Pages 44-48]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Proclamation 7265--Establishment of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National
Monument
January 11, 2000
By the President of the United States
of America
A Proclamation
The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument is a vast, biologically
diverse, impressive landscape encompassing an array of scientific and
historic objects. This remote area of open, undeveloped spaces and
engaging scenery is located on the edge of one of the most beautiful
places on earth, the Grand Canyon. Despite the hardships created by
rugged isolation and the lack of natural waters, the monument has a long
and rich human history spanning more than 11,000 years, and an equally
rich geologic history spanning almost 2 billion years. Full of natural
splendor and a sense of solitude, this area remains remote and
unspoiled,
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qualities that are essential to the protection of the scientific and
historic resources it contains.
The monument is a geological treasure. Its Paleozoic and Mesozoic
sedimentary rock layers are relatively undeformed and unobscured by
vegetation, offering a clear view to understanding the geologic history
of the Colorado Plateau. Deep canyons, mountains, and lonely buttes
testify to the power of geological forces and provide colorful vistas. A
variety of formations have been exposed by millennia of erosion by the
Colorado River. The Cambrian, Devonian, and Mississippian formations
(Muav Limestone, Temple Butte Formation, and the Redwall Limestone) are
exposed at the southern end of the lower Grand Wash Cliffs. The
Pennsylvanian and Permian formations (Calville Limestone, Esplanade
Sandstone, Hermit Shale, Toroweap Formation, and the Kaibab Formation)
are well exposed within the Parashant, Andrus, and Whitmore Canyons, and
on the Grand Gulch Bench. The Triassic Chinle and Moenkopi Formations
are exposed on the Shivwits Plateau, and the purple, pink, and white
shale, mudstone, and sandstone of the Triassic Chinle Formation are
exposed in Hells Hole.
The monument encompasses the lower portion of the Shivwits Plateau,
which forms an important watershed for the Colorado River and the Grand
Canyon. The Plateau is bounded on the west by the Grand Wash Cliffs and
on the east by the Hurricane Cliffs. These cliffs, formed by large
faults that sever the Colorado Plateau slicing north to south through
the region, were and are major topographic barriers to travel across the
area. The Grand Wash Cliffs juxtapose the colorful, lava-capped
Precambrian and Paleozoic strata of the Grand Canyon against the highly
faulted terrain, recent lake beds, and desert volcanic peaks of the
down-dropped Grand Wash trough. These cliffs, which consist of lower and
upper cliffs separated by the Grand Gulch Bench, form a spectacular
boundary between the basin and range and the Colorado Plateau geologic
provinces. At the south end of the Shivwits Plateau are several
important tributaries to the Colorado River, including the rugged and
beautiful Parashant, Andrus, and Whitmore canyons. The Plateau here is
capped by volcanic rocks with an array of cinder cones and basalt flows,
ranging in age from 9 million to only about 1000 years old. Lava from
the Whitmore and Toroweap areas flowed into the Grand Canyon and dammed
the river many times over the past several million years. The monument
is pocketed with sinkholes and breccia pipes, structures associated with
volcanism and the collapse of underlying rock layers through ground
water dissolution.
Fossils are abundant in the monument. Among these are large numbers
of invertebrate fossils, including bryozoans and brachiopods located in
the Calville limestone of the Grand Wash Cliffs, and brachiopods,
pelecypods, fenestrate bryozoa, and crinoid ossicles in the Toroweap and
Kaibab formations of Whitmore Canyon. There are also sponges in nodules
and pectenoid pelecypods throughout the Kaibab formation of Parashant
Canyon.
The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument contains portions of
geologic faults, including the Dellenbaugh fault, which cuts basalt
flows dated 6 to 7 million years old, the Toroweap fault, which has been
active within the last 30,000 years, the Hurricane fault, which forms
the hurricane Cliffs and extends over 150 miles across northern Arizona
and into Utah, and the Grand Wash fault, which bounds the west side of
the Shivwits Plateau and has approximately 15,000 feet of displacement
across the monument.
Archaeological evidence shows much human use of the area over the
past centuries. Because of their remoteness and the lack of easy road
access, the sites in this area have experienced relatively little
vandalism. Their good condition distinguishes them from many prehistoric
resources in other areas. Prehistoric use is documented by irreplaceable
rock art images, quarries, villages, watchtowers, agricultural features,
burial sites, caves, rockshelters, trails, and camps. Current evidence
indicates that the monument was utilized by small numbers of hunter-
gatherers during the Archaic Period (7000 B.C. to 300 B.C.). Population
and utilization of the monument increased during the Ancestral Puebloan
Period from the Basketmaker II Phase through the Pueblo II
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Phase (300 B.C. to 1150 A.D.), as evidenced by the presence of pit
houses, habitation rooms, agricultural features, and pueblo structures.
Population size decreased during the Pueblo III Phase (1150 A.D. to 1225
A.D.). Southern Paiute groups replaced the Pueblo groups and were
occupying the monument at the time of Euro-American contact.
Archaeological sites in the monument include large concentrations of
ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi or Hitsatsinom) villages, a large, intact
Pueblo II village, numerous archaic period archeological sites,
ancestral Puebloan sites, and Southern Paiute sites. The monument also
contains areas of importance to existing Indian tribes.
In 1776, the Escalante-Dominguez expedition of Spanish explorers
passed near Mount Trumbull. In the first half of the 19th century,
Jedediah Smith, Antonio Armiijo, and John C. Fremont explored portions
of this remote area. Jacob Hamblin, a noted Mormon pioneer, explored
portions of the Shivwits Plateau in 1858 and, with John
Wesley Powell, in the 1870s. Clarence Dutton completed some of the first
geological explorations of this area and provided some of the most
stirring written descriptions. Having traversed this area by wagon at
the request of the territorial legislature, Sharlot Hall recommended it
for inclusion within the State of Arizona when it gained Statehood in
1912. Early historic sawmills provided timber that was hauled 70 miles
along the Temple Trail wagon road from Mt. Trumbull down the Hurricane
Cliffs to St. George, Utah. Ranch structures and corrals, fences, water
tanks, and the ruins of sawmills are scattered across the monument and
tell the stories of the remote family ranches and the lifestyles of
early homesteaders. There are several old mining sites dating from the
1870s, showing the history of mining during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. The remote and undeveloped nature of the monument protects
these historical sites in nearly their original context.
The monument also contains outstanding biological resources
preserved by remoteness and limited travel corridors. The monument is
the junction of two physiographic ecoregions: the Mojave Desert and the
Colorado Plateau. Individually, these regions contain ecosystems extreme
to each other, ranging from stark, arid desert to complex, dramatic
higher elevation plateaus, tributaries, and rims of the Grand Canyon.
The western margin of the Shivwits Plateau marks the boundary between
the Sonoran/Mojave/Great Basin floristic provinces to the west and
south, and the Colorado Plateau province to the northeast. This
intersection of these biomes is a distinctive and remarkable feature.
Riparian corridors link the plateau to the Colorado River corridor
below, allowing wildlife movement and plant dispersal. The Shivwits
Plateau is in an arid environment with between 14 to 18 inches of
precipitation a year. Giant Mojave Yucca cacti proliferate in
undisturbed conditions throughout the monument. Diverse wildlife inhabit
the monument, including a trophy-quality mule deer herd, Kaibab
squirrels, and wild turkey. There are numerous threatened or endangered
species as well, including the Mexican spotted owl, the California
condor, the desert tortoise, and the southwestern willow flycatcher.
There are also candidate or sensitive species, including the spotted
bat, the western mastiff bat, the Townsend's big eared bat, and the
goshawk, as well as two federally recognized sensitive rare plant
species: Penstemon distans and Rosa stellata. The ponderosa pine
ecosystem in the Mt. Trumbull area is a biological resource of
scientific interest, which has been studied to gain important insights
regarding dendroclimatic reconstruction, fire history, forest structure
change, and the long-term persistence and stability of presettlement
pine groups.
Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431)
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.
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Whereas it appears that it would be in the public interest to
reserve such lands as a national monument to be known as the Grand
Canyon-Parashant National Monument:
Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United
States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Act
of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there
are hereby set apart and reserved as the Grand Canyon-Parashant National
Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects identified above,
all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the United
States within the boundaries of the area described on the map entitled
``Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument'' attached to and forming a
part of this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land
reserved consist of approximately 1,014,000 acres, which is the smallest
area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be
protected.
For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, all
motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road will be prohibited, except
for emergency or authorized administrative purposes.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish
the jurisdiction of the State of Arizona with respect to fish and
wildlife management.
The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing
rights.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of
this monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of
entry, location, selection, sale, or leasing or other disposition under
the public land laws, including but not limited to withdrawal from
location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition
under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing other than by
exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the monument. Sale of
vegetative material is permitted only if part of an authorized science-
based ecological restoration project. Lands and interests in lands
within the proposed monument not owned by the United States shall be
reserved as a part of the monument upon acquisition of title thereto by
the United States.
This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law
nor relinquish any water rights held by the Federal Government existing
on this date. The Federal land managing agencies shall work with
appropriate State authorities to ensure that water resources needed for
monument purposes are available.
The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the
Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, pursuant to
applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes of this
proclamation. The National Park Service and the Bureau of Land
Management shall manage the monument cooperatively and shall prepare an
agreement to share, consistent with applicable laws, whatever resources
are necessary to properly manage the monument; however, the National
Park Service shall continue to have primary management authority over
the portion of the monument within the Lake Mead National Recreation
Area, and the Bureau of Land Management shall have primary management
authority over the remaining portion of the monument.
The Bureau of Land Management shall continue to issue and administer
grazing leases within the portion of the monument within the Lake Mead
National Recreation Area, consistent with the Lake Mead National
Recreation Area authorizing legislation. Laws, regulations, and policies
followed by the Bureau of Land Management in issuing and administering
grazing leases on all lands under its jurisdiction shall continue to
apply to the remaining portion of the monument.
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 this monument and
not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of
January, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the
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Independence of the United States of America the two hundredth and
twenty-fourth.
William J. Clinton
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:45 a.m., January 14,
2000]
Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on
January 18.