[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 150-153]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
 Proclamation 7397--Establishment of the Sonoran Desert National 
Monument

 January 17, 2001

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    The Sonoran Desert National Monument is a magnificent example of 
untrammeled Sonoran desert landscape. The area encompasses a functioning 
desert ecosystem with an extraordinary array of biological, scientific, 
and historic resources. The most biologically diverse of the North 
American deserts, the monument consists of distinct mountain ranges 
separated by wide valleys, and includes large saguaro cactus forest 
communities that provide excellent habitat for a wide range of wildlife 
species.
    The monument's biological resources include a spectacular diversity 
of plant and animal species. The higher peaks include unique woodland 
assemblages, while the lower elevation lands offer one of the most 
structurally complex examples of palo verde/mixed cacti association in 
the Sonoran Desert. The dense stands of leguminous trees and cacti are 
dominated by saguaros, palo-verde trees, ironwood, prickly pear, and 
cholla. Important

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natural water holes, known as tinajas, exist throughout the monument. 
The endangered acuna pineapple cactus is also found in the monument.
    The most striking aspect of the plant communities within the 
monument are the abundant saguaro cactus forests. The saguaro is a 
signature plant of the Sonoran Desert. Individual saguaro plants are 
indeed magnificent, but a forest of these plants, together with the wide 
variety of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that make up the forest 
community, is an impressive site to behold. The saguaro cactus forests 
within the monument are a national treasure, rivaling those within the 
Saguaro National Park.
    The rich diversity, density, and distribution of plants in the Sand 
Tank Mountains area of the monument is especially striking and can be 
attributed to the management regime in place since the area was 
withdrawn for military purposes in 1941. In particular, while some 
public access to the area is allowed, no livestock grazing has occurred 
for nearly 50 years. To extend the extraordinary diversity and overall 
ecological health of the Sand Tanks Mountains area, land adjacent and 
with biological resources similar to the area withdrawn for military 
purposes should be subject to a similar management regime to the fullest 
extent possible.
    The monument contains an abundance of packrat middens, allowing for 
scientific analysis of plant species and climates in past eras. 
Scientific analysis of the midden shows that the area received far more 
precipitation 20,000 years ago, and slowly became more arid. Vegetation 
for the area changed from juniper-oak-pinion pine woodland to the 
vegetation found today in the Sonoran Desert, although a few plants from 
the more mesic period, including the Kofa Mountain barberry, Arizona 
rosewood, and junipers, remain on higher elevations of north-facing 
slopes.
    The lower elevations and flatter areas of the monument contain the 
creosote-bursage plant community. This plant community thrives in the 
open expanses between the mountain ranges, and connects the other plant 
communities together. Rare patches of desert grassland can also be found 
throughout the monument, especially in the Sand Tank Mountains area. The 
washes in the area support a much denser vegetation community than the 
surrounding desert, including mesquite, ironwood, paloverde, desert 
honeysuckle, chuperosa, and desert willow, as well as a variety of 
herbaceous plants. This vegetation offers the dense cover bird species 
need for successful nesting, foraging, and escape, and birds heavily use 
the washes during migration.
    The diverse plant communities present in the monument support a wide 
variety of wildlife, including the endangered Sonoran pronghorn, a 
robust population of desert bighorn sheep, especially in the Maricopa 
Mountains area, and other mammalian species such as mule deer, javelina, 
mountain lion, gray fox, and bobcat. Bat species within the monument 
include the endangered lesser long-nosed bat, the California leaf-nosed 
bat, and the cave myotis. Over 200 species of birds are found in the 
monument, including 59 species known to nest in the Vekol Valley area. 
Numerous species of raptors and owls inhabit the monument, including the 
elf owl and the western screech owl. The monument also supports a 
diverse array of reptiles and amphibians, including the Sonoran desert 
tortoise and the red-backed whiptail. The Bureau of Land Management has 
designated approximately 25,000 acres of land in the Maricopa Mountains 
area as critical habitat for the desert tortoise. The Vekol Valley and 
Sand Tank Mountain areas contain especially diverse and robust 
populations of amphibians. During summer rainfall events, thousands of 
Sonoran green toads in the Vekol Valley can be heard moving around and 
calling out.
    The monument also contains many significant archaeological and 
historic sites, including rock art sites, lithic quarries, and scattered 
artifacts. Vekol Wash is believed to have been an important prehistoric 
travel and trade corridor between the Hohokam and tribes located in what 
is now Mexico. Signs of large villages and permanent habitat sites occur 
throughout the area, and particularly along the bajadas of the Table Top 
Mountains. Occupants of these villages were the ancestors of today's 
O'odham, Quechan, Cocopah, Maricopa, and other tribes. The monument also 
contains a much used trail

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corridor 23 miles long in which are found remnants of several important 
historic trails, including the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic 
Trail, the Mormon Battalion Trail, and the Butterfield Overland Stage 
Route.
    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 Sonoran 
Desert 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 Sonoran Desert National 
Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, 
all lands and interest in lands owned or controlled by the United States 
within the boundaries of the area described on the map entitled 
``Sonoran Desert National Monument'' attached to and forming a part of 
this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved 
consist of approximately 486,149 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, 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. Lands 
and interests in lands within the 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.
    This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law 
nor relinquish any water rights held by the Federal Government existing 
on this date. The Federal land management agencies shall work with 
appropriate State authorities to ensure that water resources needed for 
monument purposes are available.
    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. That portion identified as 
Area A on the map, however, shall be managed under the management 
arrangement established by section 3 of Public Law No. 99-606, 100 Stat. 
3460-61, until November 6, 2001, at which time, pursuant to section 5(a) 
of Public Law No. 99-606, 100 Stat. 3462-63, the military withdrawal 
terminates. At that time, the Secretary of the Interior shall assume 
management responsibility for Area A through the Bureau of Land 
Management.
    The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a management plan that 
addresses the actions, including road closures or travel restrictions, 
necessary to protect the objects identified in this proclamation.
    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; provided, however, that grazing permits on 
Federal lands within the monument south of Interstate Highway 8

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shall not be renewed at the end of their current term; and provided 
further, that grazing on Federal lands north of Interstate 8 shall be 
allowed to continue only to the extent that the Bureau of Land 
Management determines that grazing is compatible with the paramount 
purpose of protecting the objects identified 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.
    Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low level overflights of 
military aircraft, the designation of new units of special use airspace, 
or the use or establishment of military flight training routes over the 
lands included in this proclamation.
    In order to protect the public during operations at the adjacent 
Barry M. Goldwater Range, and to continue management practices that have 
resulted in an exceptionally well preserved natural resource, the 
current procedures for public access to the portion of the monument 
depicted as Area A on the attached map shall remain in full force and 
effect, except to the extent that the United States Air Force agrees to 
different procedures which the Bureau of Land Management determines are 
compatible with the protection of the objects identified in this 
proclamation.
    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.