Presidential Documents

37243

Federal Register

Vol. 65, No. 114

Tuesday, June 13, 2000

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7317 of June 9, 2000

Establishment of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Containing the highest known density of archaeological sites in the Nation,

the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument holds evidence of cultures

and traditions spanning thousands of years. This area, with its intertwined

natural and cultural resources, is a rugged landscape, a quality that greatly

contributes to the protection of its scientific and historic objects. The monument offers an unparalleled opportunity to observe, study, and experience

how cultures lived and adapted over time in the American Southwest.

The complex landscape and remarkable cultural resources of the Canyons

of the Ancients National Monument have been a focal point for archaeological

interest for over 125 years. Archaeological and historic objects such as

cliff dwellings, villages, great kivas, shrines, sacred springs, agricultural

fields, check dams, reservoirs, rock art sites, and sweat lodges are spread

across the landscape. More than five thousand of these archaeologically

important sites have been recorded, and thousands more await documentation

and study. The Mockingbird Mesa area has over forty sites per square

mile, and several canyons in that area hold more than three hundred sites

per square mile.

People have lived and labored to survive among these canyons and mesas

for thousands of years, from the earliest known hunters crossing the area

10,000 years ago or more, through Ancestral Puebloan farmers, to the Ute,

Navajo, and European settlers whose descendants still call this area home.

There is scattered evidence that Paleo-Indians used the region on a sporadic

basis for hunting and gathering until around 7500 B.C. During the Archaic

period, generally covering the next six thousand years, occupation of the

Four Corners area was dominated by hunters and gatherers.

By about 1500 B.C., the more sedentary Basketmakers spread over the landscape. As Ancestral Northern Puebloan people occupied the area around

750 A.D., farming began to blossom, and continued through about 1300

A.D., as the area became part of a much larger prehistoric cultural region

that included Mesa Verde to the southeast. Year-round villages were established, originally consisting of pit house dwellings, and later evolving to

well-recognized cliff-dwellings. Many archaeologists now believe that

throughout this time span, the Ancestral Northern Puebloan people periodically aggregated into larger communities and dispersed into smaller community units. Specifically, during Pueblo I (about 700–900 A.D.) the occupation

and site density in the monument area increased. Dwellings tended to be

small, with three or four rooms. Then, during Pueblo II (about 900–1150

A.D.), settlements were diminished and highly dispersed. Late in Pueblo

II and in early Pueblo III, around 1150 A.D., the size and number of settlements again increased and residential clustering began. Later pueblos were

larger multi-storied masonry dwellings with forty to fifty rooms. For the

remainder of Pueblo III (1150–1300 A.D.), major aggregation occurred in

the monument, typically at large sites at the heads of canyons. One of

these sites includes remains of about 420 rooms, 90 kivas, a great kiva,

and a plaza, covering more than ten acres in all. These villages were wrapped

37244 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents

around the upper reaches of canyons and spread down onto talus slopes,

enclosed year-round springs and reservoirs, and included low, defensive

walls. The changes in architecture and site planning reflected a shift from

independent households to a more communal lifestyle.

Farming during the Puebloan period was affected by population growth

and changing climate and precipitation patterns. As the population grew,

the Ancestral Puebloans expanded into increasingly marginal areas. Natural

resources were compromised and poor soil and growing conditions made

survival increasingly difficult. When dry conditions persisted, Pueblo communities moved to the south, southwest, and southeast, where descendants

of these Ancestral Puebloan peoples live today.

Soon after the Ancestral Puebloans left the monument area, the nomadic

Ute and Navajo took advantage of the natural diversity found in the variable

topography by moving to lower areas, including the monument’s mesas

and canyons, during the cooler seasons. A small number of forked stick

hogans, brush shelters, and wickiups are the most obvious remnants of

this period of occupation.

The natural resources and spectacular land forms of the monument help

explain why past and present cultures have chosen to live in the area.

The geology of the monument evokes the very essence of the American

Southwest. Structurally part of the Paradox Basin, from a distance the landscape looks deceptively benign. From the McElmo Dome in the southern

part of the monument, the land slopes gently to the north, giving no indication of its true character. Once inside the area, however, the geology becomes

more rugged and dissected. Rising sharply to the north of McElmo Creek,

the McElmo Dome itself is buttressed by sheer sandstone cliffs, with mesa

tops rimmed by caprock, and deeply incised canyons.

The monument is home to a wide variety of wildlife species, including

unique herpetological resources. Crucial habitat for the Mesa Verde

nightsnake, long-nosed leopard lizard, and twin-spotted spiny lizard can

be found within the monument in the area north of Yellow Jacket Canyon.

Peregrine falcons have been observed in the area, as have golden eagles,

American kestrels, red-tailed hawks, and northern harriers. Game birds like

Gambel’s quail and mourning dove are found throughout the monument

both in dry, upland habitats, and in lush riparian habitat along the canyon

bottoms.

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 Canyons of the

Ancients 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 Canyons of the Ancients 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 ‘‘Canyons

of the Ancients National Monument’’ attached to and forming a part of

this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist

of approximately 164,000 acres, which is the smallest area compatible with

the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents 37245

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 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

leasing, other than by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of

the monument, and except for oil and gas leasing as prescribed herein.

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

of the Interior shall prohibit all motorized and mechanized vehicle use

off 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.

Because most of the Federal lands have already been leased for oil and

gas, which includes carbon dioxide, and development is already occurring,

the monument shall remain open to oil and gas leasing and development;

provided, the Secretary of the Interior shall manage the development, subject

to valid existing rights, so as not to create any new impacts that interfere

with the proper care and management of the objects protected by this proclamation; and provided further, the Secretary may issue new leases only

for the purpose of promoting conservation of oil and gas resources in any

common reservoir now being produced under existing leases, or to protect

against drainage.

The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a transportation plan 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 manage the monument through the Bureau

of Land Management, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to implement

the purposes of this 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 Colorado with respect to fish and wildlife management.

This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law. 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 Bureau of Land Management

shall work with appropriate State authorities to ensure that any water resources needed for monument purposes are available.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the

rights of any Indian tribe.

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.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to affect the management

of Hovenweep National Monument by the National Park Service (Proclamation 1654 of March 2, 1923, Proclamation 2924 of May 1, 1951, and Proclamation 2998 of November 26, 1952).

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.

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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–

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 114 / Tuesday, June 13, 2000 / Presidential Documents 37247

[FR Doc. 00–15109

Filed 6–12–00; 10:47 am]

Billing code 3195–01–C