    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 23 (Monday, June 12, 2000)]
    [Pages 1322-1324]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 7319--Establishment of the Hanford Reach National Monument

     June 9, 2000

     By the President of the United States

     of America

     A Proclamation

        The Hanford Reach National Monument is a unique and biologically
    diverse landscape, encompassing an array of scientific and historic
    objects. This magnificent area contains an irreplaceable natural and
    historic legacy, preserved by unusual circumstances. Maintained as a
    buffer area in a Federal reservation conducting nuclear weapons
    development and, more recently, environmental cleanup activities, with
    limits on development and human use for the past 50 years, the monument
    is now a haven for important and increasingly scarce objects of
    scientific and historic interest. Bisected by the stunning Hanford Reach
    of the Columbia River, the monument contains the largest remnant of the
    shrub-steppe ecosystem that once blanketed the Columbia River Basin. The
    monument is also one of the few remaining archaeologically rich areas in
    the western Columbia Plateau, containing well-preserved remnants of
    human history spanning more than 10,000 years. The monument is equally
    rich in geologic history, with dramatic landscapes that reveal the
    creative forces of tectonic, volcanic, and erosive power.
        The monument is a biological treasure, embracing important riparian,
    aquatic, and upland shrub-steppe habitats that are rare or in decline in
    other areas. Within its mosaic of habitats, the monument supports a
    wealth of increasingly uncommon native plant and animal species, the
    size and diversity of which is unmatched in the Columbia Basin.
    Migrating salmon, birds, and hundreds of other native plant and animal
    species rely on its natural ecosystems.
        The monument includes the 51-mile long ``Hanford Reach,'' the last
    free-flowing, nontidal stretch of the Columbia River. The Reach contains
    islands, riffles, gravel bars, oxbow ponds, and backwater sloughs that
    support some of the most productive spawning areas in the Northwest,
    where approximately 80 percent of the upper Columbia Basin's fall
    chinook salmon spawn. It also supports healthy runs of naturally-
    spawning sturgeon and other highly-valued fish species. The loss of
    other spawning grounds on the Columbia and its tributaries has increased
    the importance of the Hanford Reach for fisheries.
        The monument contains one of the last remaining large blocks of
    shrub-steppe ecosystems in the Columbia River Basin, supporting an
    unusually high diversity of native plant and animal species. A large
    number of rare and sensitive plant species are found dispersed
    throughout the monument. A recent inventory resulted in the discovery of
    two plant species new to science, the Umtanum desert buckwheat and the
    White Bluffs bladderpod. Fragile microbiotic crusts, themselves of
    biological interest, are well developed in the monument and play an
    important role in stabilizing soils and providing nutrients to plants.
        The monument contains significant breeding populations of nearly all
    steppe and shrub-steppe dependent birds, including the loggerhead
    shrike, the sage sparrow, the sage thrasher, and the ferruginous hawk.
    The Hanford Reach and surrounding wetlands provide important stop-over
    habitat for migratory birds, as well as habitat for many resident
    species. The area is important wintering habitat for bald eagles, white
    pelicans, and many species of waterfowl such as mallards, green-winged
    teal, pintails, goldeneye, gadwall, and buffleheads. The monument's
    bluff habitats provide valuable nesting sites for several bird species,
    including prairie falcons, and important perch sites for raptors such as
    peregrine falcons.
        Many species of mammals are also found within the monument,
    including elk, beaver, badgers, and bobcats. Insect populations, though
    less conspicuous, include species that have been lost elsewhere due to
    habitat conversion, fragmentation, and application of pesticides. A
    recent biological inventory uncovered 41 species and 2 subspecies of
    insects new to science and many species not before identified in the
    State of Washington. Such rich and diverse insect populations are
    important to supporting the fauna in the monument.

    [[Page 1323]]

        In addition to its vital biological resources, the monument contains
    significant geological and paleontological objects. The late-Miocene to
    late-Pliocene Ringold Formation, known as the White Bluffs, was formed
    from river and lake sediments deposited by the ancestral Columbia River
    and its tributaries. These striking cliffs form the eastern bank of the
    Columbia for nearly half of the length of the Reach, and are significant
    for the mammalian fossils that they contain. Fossil remains from
    rhinoceros, camel, and mastodon, among others, have been found within
    these bluffs.
        The Hanford Dune Field, located on the western shore of the Columbia
    in the southeastern part of the monument, is also of geologic
    significance. This active area of migrating barchan dunes and partially
    stabilized transverse dunes rises 10 to 16 feet above the ground,
    creating sandy habitats ranging from 2 to several hundred acres in size.
        The monument also contains important archaeological and historic
    information. More than 10,000 years of human activity in this largely
    arid environment have left extensive archaeological deposits. Areas
    upland from the river show evidence of concentrated human activity, and
    recent surveys indicate extensive use of arid lowlands for hunting.
    Hundreds of prehistoric archaeological sites have been recorded,
    including the remains of pithouses, graves, spirit quest monuments,
    hunting camps, game drive complexes, quarries, and hunting and kill
    sites. A number of Native American groups still have cultural ties to
    the monument. The monument also contains some historic structures and
    other remains from more recent human activities, including homesteads
    from small towns established along the riverbanks in the early 20th
    century.
        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.
        Whereas  it appears that it would be in the public interest to
    reserve such lands as a national monument to be known as the Hanford
    Reach 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 Hanford Reach 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
    ``Hanford Reach National Monument'' attached to and forming a part of
    this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved
    consist of approximately 195,000 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
    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.
        For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, the
    Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy shall prohibit all
    motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road, except for emergency or
    other federally authorized purposes, including remediation purposes.
    There is hereby reserved, as of the date of this proclamation and
    subject to valid existing rights, a quantity of water in the Columbia
    River 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.

    [[Page 1324]]

        For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, the
    Secretary of the Interior shall prohibit livestock grazing.
        The monument shall be managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    under existing agreements with the Department of Energy, except that the
    Department of Energy shall manage the lands within the monument that are
    not subject to management agreements with the Service, and in developing
    any management plans and rules and regulations governing the portions of
    the monument for which the Department of Energy has management
    responsibility, the Secretary of Energy shall consult with the Secretary
    of the Interior.
        As the Department of Energy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    determine that lands within the monument managed by the Department of
    Energy become suitable for management by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
    Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will assume management by
    agreement with the Department of Energy. All agreements between the U.S.
    Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Energy shall be
    consistent with the provisions of this proclamation.
        Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the responsibility of the
    Department of Energy under environmental laws, including the remediation
    of hazardous substances or the restoration of natural resources at the
    Hanford facility; nor affect the Department of Energy's statutory
    authority to control public access or statutory responsibility to take
    other measures for environmental remediation, monitoring, security,
    safety, or emergency preparedness purposes; nor affect any Department of
    Energy activities on lands not included within the monument.
        Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish
    the jurisdiction of the State of Washington with respect to fish and
    wildlife management.
        Nothing in this proclamation shall enlarge or diminish the rights of
    any Indian tribe.
        The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing
    rights.
        Nothing in this proclamation shall interfere with the operation and
    maintenance of existing facilities of the Columbia Basin Reclamation
    Project, the Federal Columbia River Transmission System, or other
    existing utility services that are located within the monument. Existing
    Federal Columbia River Transmission System facilities located within the
    monument may be replaced, modified and expanded, and new facilities
    constructed within the monument, as authorized by other applicable law.
    Such replacement, modification, expansion, or construction of new
    facilities shall be carried out in a manner consistent with proper care
    and management of the objects of this proclamation, to be determined in
    accordance with the management arrangements previously set out in this
    proclamation.
        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 ninth day of
    June, 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, 10:47 a.m., June 12,
    2000]

     Note:  This proclamation will be published in the  Federal Register  on
    June 13.