Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents 37249

Proclamation 7318 of June 9, 2000

Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

With towering fir forests, sunlit oak groves, wildflower-strewn meadows,

and steep canyons, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is an ecological

wonder, with biological diversity unmatched in the Cascade Range. This

rich enclave of natural resources is a biological crossroads—the interface

of the Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou ecoregions, in an area of unique

geology, biology, climate, and topography.

The monument is home to a spectacular variety of rare and beautiful species

of plants and animals, whose survival in this region depends upon its

continued ecological integrity. Plant communities present a rich mosaic

of grass and shrublands, Garry and California black oak woodlands, juniper

scablands, mixed conifer and white fir forests, and wet meadows. Stream

bottoms support broad-leaf deciduous riparian trees and shrubs. Special

plant communities include rosaceous chaparral and oak-juniper woodlands.

The monument also contains many rare and endemic plants, such as Greene’s

Mariposa lily, Gentner’s fritillary, and Bellinger’s meadowfoam.

The monument supports an exceptional range of fauna, including one of

the highest diversities of butterfly species in the United States. The Jenny

Creek portion of the monument is a significant center of fresh water snail

diversity, and is home to three endemic fish species, including a longisolated stock of redband trout. The monument contains important populations of small mammals, reptile and amphibian species, and ungulates,

including important winter habitat for deer. It also contains old growth

habitat crucial to the threatened Northern spotted owl and numerous other

bird species such as the western bluebird, the western meadowlark, the

pileated woodpecker, the flammulated owl, and the pygmy nuthatch.

The monument’s geology contributes substantially to its spectacular biological

diversity. The majority of the monument is within the Cascade Mountain

Range. The western edge of the monument lies within the older Klamath

Mountain geologic province. The dynamic plate tectonics of the area, and

the mixing of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary geological formations,

have resulted in diverse lithologies and soils. Along with periods of geological

isolation and a range of environmental conditions, the complex geologic

history of the area has been instrumental in producing the diverse vegetative

and biological richness seen today.

One of the most striking features of the Western Cascades in this area

is Pilot Rock, located near the southern boundary of the monument. The

rock is a volcanic plug, a remnant of a feeder vent left after a volcano

eroded away, leaving an outstanding example of the inside of a volcano.

Pilot Rock has sheer, vertical basalt faces up to 400 feet above the talus

slope at its base, with classic columnar jointing created by the cooling

of its andesite composition.

The Siskiyou Pass in the southwest corner of the monument contains portions

of the Oregon/California Trail, the region’s main north/south travel route

first established by Native Americans in prehistoric times, and used by

Peter Skene Ogden in his 1827 exploration for the Hudson’s Bay Company.

37250 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents

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 Cascade-Siskiyou

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 Cascade-Siskiyou 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 ‘‘Cascade-Siskiyou

National Monument’’ attached to and forming a part of this proclamation.

The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately

52,000 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 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.

There is hereby reserved, as of the date of this proclamation and subject

to valid existing rights, a quantity of water sufficient to fulfill the purposes

for which this monument is established. 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 commercial harvest of timber or other vegetative material is prohibited,

except when part of an authorized science-based ecological restoration project

aimed at meeting protection and old growth enhancement objectives. Any

such project must be consistent with the purposes of this proclamation.

No portion of the monument shall be considered to be suited for timber

production, and no part of the monument shall be used in a calculation

or provision of a sustained yield of timber. Removal of trees from within

the monument area may take place only if clearly needed for ecological

restoration and maintenance or public safety.

For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, the Secretary

of the Interior shall prohibit all motorized and mechanized vehicle use

off road and shall close the Schoheim 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.

The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the Bureau

of Land Management, pursuant to applicable legal authorities (including,

where applicable, the Act of August 28, 1937, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1181a1181j)), to implement the purposes of this proclamation.

The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare, within 3 years of this date,

a management plan for this monument, and shall promulgate such regulations

for its management as he deems appropriate. The management plan shall

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents 37251

include appropriate transportation planning 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 study the impacts of livestock grazing

on the objects of biological interest in the monument with specific attention

to sustaining the natural ecosystem dynamics. Existing authorized permits

or leases may continue with appropriate terms and conditions under existing

laws and regulations. Should grazing be found incompatible with protecting

the objects of biological interest, the Secretary shall retire the grazing allotments pursuant to the processes of applicable law. Should grazing permits

or leases be relinquished by existing holders, the Secretary shall not reallocate

the forage available under such permits or for livestock grazing purposes

unless the Secretary specifically finds, pending the outcome of the study,

that such reallocation will advance the purposes of the 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 Oregon with respect to fish and wildlife management.

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

Billing code 3195–01–P

of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

œ–

37252 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents

[FR Doc. 00–15110

Filed 6–12–00; 10:47 am]

Billing code 3195–01–C