[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 206-207]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7402--Establishment of the Governors Island National 
Monument

 January 20, 2001

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    On the north tip of Governors Island, between the confluence of the 
Hudson and Eastern Rivers, Governors Island National Monument served as 
an outpost to protect New York City from sea attack. The monument, part 
of a larger 1985 National Historic Landmark District designation, 
contains two important historical objects, Castle William and Fort Jay. 
Between 1806 and 1811, these fortifications were constructed as part of 
the First and Second American Systems of Coastal Fortification. Castle 
William and Fort Jay represent two of the finest types of defensive 
structures in use from the Renaissance to the American Civil War. The 
monument also played important roles in the War of 1812, the American 
Civil War, and World Wars I and II.
    The fortifications in the monument were built on the most strategic 
defensive positions on the island. Fort Jay, constructed between 1806 
and 1809, is on the highest point of the island from which its glacis 
originally sloped down to the waterfront on all sides. Castle William, 
constructed between 1807 and 1811, occupies a rocky promontory as close 
as possible to the harbor channels and served as the most important 
strategic defensive point in the entrance to the New York Harbor. The 
monument also includes a number of associated historical buildings 
constructed as part of the garrison post in the early part of the 19th 
century.
     Governors Island has been managed by the U.S. Army and the U.S. 
Coast Guard over the past 200 years. With the site no longer required 
for military or Coast Guard purposes, it provides an excellent 
opportunity for the public to observe and understand the harbor history, 
its defense, and its ecology.
     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 the Governors Island 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 Governors Island 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 
``Governors Islands National Monument'' attached to and forming a part 
of this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved 
consist of approximately 20 acres, which is the smallest area compatible 
with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
     Subject to existing law, including Public Law No. 105-33, Title IX, 
section 9101(a), 111 Stat. 670 (Aug. 5, 1997), 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.
     The Secretary of the Interior (``Secretary''), acting through the 
National Park Service, shall manage the monument in consultation with 
the Administrator of General Services, consistent with the purposes and 
provisions of this proclamation.
     For the purpose of preserving, restoring, and enhancing the public 
visitation and appreciation of the monument, the Secretary, acting 
through the National Park Service,

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shall prepare, in consultation with the Administrator of General 
Services, a management plan for the monument within 3 years of this 
date. Further, to the extent authorized by law, the Secretary, acting 
through the National Park Service, shall promulgate, in consultation 
with the Administrator of General Services, regulations for the proper 
care and management of the objects identified above.
     The establishment 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 nineteenth 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 24, 
2001]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
January 25.