[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 23 (Monday, June 12, 2000)]
[Pages 1317-1319]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Proclamation 7317--Establishment of the Canyons of the Ancients National
Monument
June 9, 2000
By the President of the United States
of America
A Proclamation
Containing the highest known density of archaeological sites in the
Nation, the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument holds evidence of
cultures and traditions spanning thousands of years. This area, with its
intertwined natural and cultural resources, is a rugged landscape, a
quality that greatly contributes to the protection of its scientific and
historic objects. The monument offers an unparalleled opportunity to
observe, study, and experience how cultures lived and adapted over time
in the American Southwest.
The complex landscape and remarkable cultural resources of the
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument have been a focal point for
archaeological interest for over 125 years. Archaeological and historic
objects such as cliff dwellings, villages, great kivas, shrines, sacred
springs, agricultural fields, check dams, reservoirs, rock art sites,
and sweat lodges are spread across the landscape. More than five
thousand of these archaeologically important sites have been recorded,
and thousands more await documentation and study. The Mockingbird Mesa
area has over forty sites per square mile, and several canyons in that
area hold more than three hundred sites per square mile.
People have lived and labored to survive among these canyons and
mesas for thousands of years, from the earliest known hunters crossing
the area 10,000 years ago or more, through Ancestral Puebloan farmers,
to the Ute, Navajo, and European settlers whose descendants still call
this area home. There is scattered evidence that Paleo-Indians used the
region on a sporadic basis for hunting and gathering until around 7500
B.C. During the Archaic period, generally covering the next six thousand
years, occupation of the Four Corners area was dominated by hunters and
gatherers.
By about 1500 B.C., the more sedentary Basketmakers spread over the
landscape. As Ancestral Northern Puebloan people occupied the area
around 750 A.D., farming began to blossom, and continued through about
1300 A.D., as the area became part of a much larger prehistoric cultural
region that included Mesa Verde to the southeast. Year-round villages
were established, originally consisting of pit house dwellings, and
later evolving to well-recognized cliff-dwellings. Many archaeologists
now believe that throughout this time span, the Ancestral Northern
Puebloan people periodically aggregated into larger communities and
dispersed into smaller community units. Specifically, during Pueblo I
(about 700-900 A.D.) the occupation and site density in the monument
area increased. Dwellings tended to be small, with three or four rooms.
Then, during Pueblo II (about 900-1150 A.D.), settlements were
diminished and highly dispersed. Late in Pueblo II and in early Pueblo
III, around 1150 A.D., the size and number of settlements again
increased and residential clustering began. Later pueblos were larger
multi-storied masonry dwellings with forty to fifty rooms. For the
remainder of Pueblo III (1150-1300 A.D.), major aggregation occurred in
the monument, typically at large sites at the heads of canyons. One of
these sites includes remains of about 420 rooms, 90 kivas, a great kiva,
and a plaza, covering more than ten acres in all. These villages were
wrapped around the upper reaches of canyons and spread down onto talus
slopes, enclosed year-round springs and reservoirs, and included low,
defensive walls. The changes in architecture and site planning reflected
a shift from independent households to a more communal lifestyle.
Farming during the Puebloan period was affected by population growth
and changing climate and precipitation patterns. As the population grew,
the Ancestral Puebloans expanded into increasingly marginal areas.
Natural resources were compromised and poor soil and growing conditions
made survival increasingly difficult. When dry conditions persisted,
Pueblo communities moved to the south, southwest, and southeast, where
descendants of these Ancestral Puebloan peoples live today.
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Soon after the Ancestral Puebloans left the monument area, the
nomadic Ute and Navajo took advantage of the natural diversity found in
the variable topography by moving to lower areas, including the
monument's mesas and canyons, during the cooler seasons. A small number
of forked stick hogans, brush shelters, and wickiups are the most
obvious remnants of this period of occupation.
The natural resources and spectacular land forms of the monument
help explain why past and present cultures have chosen to live in the
area. The geology of the monument evokes the very essence of the
American Southwest. Structurally part of the Paradox Basin, from a
distance the landscape looks deceptively benign. From the McElmo Dome in
the southern part of the monument, the land slopes gently to the north,
giving no indication of its true character. Once inside the area,
however, the geology becomes more rugged and dissected. Rising sharply
to the north of McElmo Creek, the McElmo Dome itself is buttressed by
sheer sandstone cliffs, with mesa tops rimmed by caprock, and deeply
incised canyons.
The monument is home to a wide variety of wildlife species,
including unique herpetological resources. Crucial habitat for the Mesa
Verde nightsnake, long-nosed leopard lizard, and twin-spotted spiny
lizard can be found within the monument in the area north of Yellow
Jacket Canyon. Peregrine falcons have been observed in the area, as have
golden eagles, American kestrels, red-tailed hawks, and northern
harriers. Game birds like Gambel's quail and mourning dove are found
throughout the monument both in dry, upland habitats, and in lush
riparian habitat along the canyon bottoms.
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 Canyons of
the Ancients 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 Canyons of the Ancients
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 ``Canyons of the Ancients National Monument'' attached to and
forming a part of this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in
land reserved consist of approximately 164,000 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 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 leasing, other than by exchange that furthers the
protective purposes of the monument, and except for oil and gas leasing
as prescribed herein.
For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, the
Secretary of the Interior shall prohibit all motorized and mechanized
vehicle use off road, except for emergency or authorized administrative
purposes.
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.
Because most of the Federal lands have already been leased for oil
and gas, which includes carbon dioxide, and development is already
occurring, the monument shall remain open to oil and gas leasing and
development; provided, the Secretary of the Interior
[[Page 1319]]
shall manage the development, subject to valid existing rights, so as
not to create any new impacts that interfere with the proper care and
management of the objects protected by this proclamation; and provided
further, the Secretary may issue new leases only for the purpose of
promoting conservation of oil and gas resources in any common reservoir
now being produced under existing leases, or to protect against
drainage.
The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a transportation plan
that addresses the actions, including road closures or travel
restrictions, necessary to protect the objects identified in 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.
The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing
rights.
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.
This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law.
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 Bureau of
Land Management shall work with appropriate State authorities to ensure
that any water resources needed for monument purposes are available.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish
the rights of any Indian tribe.
Laws, regulations, and policies followed by the Bureau of Land
Management 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.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to affect the
management of Hovenweep National Monument by the National Park Service
(Proclamation 1654 of March 2, 1923, Proclamation 2924 of May 1, 1951,
and Proclamation 2998 of November 26, 1952).
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.