Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37 Issue 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 141-143]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7392--Boundary Enlargement and Modifications
of the Buck Island Reef National Monument

January 17, 2001

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

Buck Island Reef National Monument was established on December 28,
1961 (Presidential Proclamation 3443), just north of St. Croix in the
U.S. Virgin Islands, for the purpose of protecting Buck Island and its
adjoining shoals, rocks, and undersea coral reef formations. Considered
one of the finest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea, the unique
natural area and the rare marine life which are dependent upon it are
subject to the constant threat of commercial exploitation and
destruction. The monument's vulnerable floral and faunal communities
live in a fragile, interdependent relationship and include habitats
essential for sustaining the tropical marine ecosystem: coral reefs, sea
grass beds, octocoral hardbottom, sand communities, algal plains, shelf
edge, and oceanic habitats. The boundary enlargement effected by this
proclamation brings into the monument additional objects of scientific
and historic interest, and provides necessary further protection for the
resources of the existing monument.

[[Page 142]]

The expansion area includes additional coral reefs (patch, pur and
groove, and deep and wall), unusual ``haystacks'' of elkhorn coral,
barrier reefs, sea grass beds, and sand communities, as well as algal
plains, shelf edge, and other supporting habitats not included within
the initial boundary. Oceanic currents carry planktonic larvae of coral
reef associated animals to the shallow nearshore coral reef and sea
grass habitats, where they transform into their juvenile stage. As they
mature over months or years, they move offshore and take up residence in
the deeper coral reefs, octocoral hardbottom, and algal plains. Between
the monument's nearshore habitats and its shelf edge spawning sites are
habitats that play essential roles during specific developmental stages
of many reef-associated species, including spawning migrations of many
reef fish species and crustaceans. Several threatened and endangered
species forage, breed, nest, rest, or calve in the waters included in
the enlarged monument, including humpback whales, pilot whales, four
species of dolphins, brown pelicans, least terns, and the hawksbill,
leatherback, and green sea turtles. Countless species of reef fishes,
invertebrates, plants, and over 12 species of sea birds utilize this
area.
The ecologically important shelf edge is the spawning site for many
reef species, such as most groupers and snappers, and the spiny lobster.
Plummeting to abyssal depths, this habitat of vertical walls,
honeycombed with holes and caves, is home to deepwater species and a
refuge for other species.
The expansion area also contains significant cultural and historical
objects. In March 1797, the slave ship Mary, captained by James Hunter
of Liverpool, sank in this area, and its cargo of 240 slaves was saved
and brought to Christiansted. In March 1803, the General Abercrombie,
captained by James Booth of Liverpool, also wrecked in this area, and
its cargo of 339 slaves was brought to Christiansted. Slave shipwrecks
in U.S. waters are rare. The monument contains remnants of these wrecks.
Other wrecks may also exist in the monument.
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 an addition to the Buck Island Reef 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 an addition to the Buck Island Reef
National Monument, for the purpose of care, management, and protection
of the objects of historic and scientific interest situated on lands
within the said monument, all lands and interests in lands owned or
controlled by the United States within the boundaries of the area
described on the map entitled ``Buck Island Reef National Monument
Boundary Enlargement'' attached to and forming a part of this
proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist of
approximately 18,135 marine 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 shall prohibit all boat anchoring, provided that the Secretary
may permit exceptions for emergency or authorized administrative
purposes, and

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may issue permits for anchoring in deep sand bottom areas, to the extent
that it is consistent with the protection of the objects.
For the purposes of protecting the objects identified above, the
Secretary shall prohibit all extractive uses. This prohibition
supersedes the limited authorization for extractive uses included in
Proclamation 3443 of December 28, 1961.
Lands and interests in lands within the monument not owned or
controlled by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the
monument upon acquisition of title or control thereto by the United
States.
The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the
National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to
implement the purposes of this proclamation. The National Park Service
will manage the monument in a manner consistent with international law.
The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a management plan,
including the management of vessels in the monument, within 2 years that
will address any further specific actions necessary to protect the
objects identified above.
The enlargement of this monument is subject to valid existing
rights.
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 seventeenth day
of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fifth.
William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 19,
2001]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on
January 22.