[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

[[Page 143]]

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.