[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 2 (Monday, January 17, 2000)]
[Pages 41-43]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7263--Establishment of the Agua Fria National Monument

January 11, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The windswept, grassy mesas and formidable canyons of Agua Fria 
National Monument embrace an extraordinary array of scientific and 
historic resources. The ancient ruins within the monument, with their 
breathtaking vistas and spectacular petroglyphs, provide a link to the 
past, offering insights into the lives of the peoples who once inhabited 
this part of the desert Southwest. The area's architectural features and 
artifacts are tangible objects that can help researchers reconstruct the 
human past. Such objects and, more importantly, the spatial 
relationships among them, provide outstanding opportunities for 
archeologists to study the way humans interacted with one another, 
neighboring groups, and with the environment that sustained them in 
prehistoric times.
    The monument contains one of the most significant systems of later 
prehistoric sites in the American Southwest. Between A.D. 1250 and 1450, 
its pueblo communities were populated by up to several thousand people. 
During this time, many dwelling locations in the Southwest were 
abandoned and groups became aggregated in a relatively small number of 
densely populated areas. The monument encompasses one of the best 
examples of these areas, containing important archeological evidence 
that is crucial to understanding the cultural, social, and economic 
processes that accompanied this period of significant change.
    At least 450 prehistoric sites are known to exist within the 
monument and there are likely many more. There are at least four major 
settlements within the area, including Pueblo La Plata, Pueblo Pato, the 
Baby Canyon Ruin group, and the Lousy Canyon group. These consist of 
clusters of stone-
masonry pueblos, some containing at least 100 rooms. These settlements 
are typically situated at the edges of steep canyons, and offer a 
panorama of ruins, distinctive rock art panels, and visually spectacular 
settings.
    Many intact petroglyph sites within the monument contain rock art 
symbols pecked into the surfaces of boulders and cliff faces. The sites 
range from single designs on boulders to cliffs covered with hundreds of 
geometric and abstract symbols. Some of the most impressive sites are 
associated with major pueblos, such as Pueblo Pato.
    The monument holds an extraordinary record of prehistoric 
agricultural features, including extensive terraces bounded by lines of 
rocks and other types of landscape modifications. The agricultural 
areas, as well as other sites, reflect the skills of ancient residents 
at producing and obtaining food supplies sufficient to sustain a 
population of several thousand people.
    The monument also contains historic sites representing early Anglo-
American history through the 19th century, including remnants of Basque 
sheep camps, historic mining features, and military activities.
    In addition to its rich record of human history, the monument 
contains other objects of scientific interest. This expansive mosaic of 
semi-desert grassland, cut by ribbons of valuable riparian forest, is an 
outstanding biological resource. The diversity of vegetative 
communities, topographical features, and relative availability of water 
provide habitat for a wide array of sensitive wildlife species, 
including the lowland leopard frog, the Mexican garter snake, the common 
black hawk, and the desert tortoise. Other wildlife is abundant and 
diverse, including pronghorn, mule deer, and white-tail deer. Javelina, 
mountain lions, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and 
neotropical migratory birds also inhabit the area. Elk and black bear 
are present, but less abundant. Four species of native fish, including 
the longfin dace, the Gila mountain sucker, the Gila chub, and the 
speckled dace, exist in the Agua Fria River and its tributaries.
    Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431) 
authorizes the

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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 appears that it would be in the public interest to 
reserve such lands as a national monument to be known as the Agua Fria 
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 Agua Fria 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 ``Agua Fria 
National Monument'' attached to and forming a part of this proclamation. 
The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 
71,100 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, 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. 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.
    There is hereby reserved, as of the date of this proclamation and 
subject to valid existing rights, a quantity of water sufficient to 
fulfill the purposes for which this monument is established. Nothing in 
this reservation shall be construed as a relinquishment or reduction of 
any water use or rights reserved or appropriated by the United States on 
or before the date of this proclamation.
    The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the 
Bureau of Land Management, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to 
implement the purposes of this proclamation.
    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 with regard to the lands 
in 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 Independence 
of the United States of America the two hundred 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.

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