65FR37241 P-7317 Establishment of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
The President of the United States
Posting-number: Volume 65, Issue 114, Page 37241
[Federal Register: June 13, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 114)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 37241-37246]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13jn00-120]
[[Page 37241]]
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Part V
The President
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Proclamation 7317--Establishment of the Canyons of the Ancients
National Monument
Proclamation 7318--Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument
Proclamation 7319--Establishment of the Hanford Reach National Monument
Proclamation 7320--Establishment of the Ironwood Forest National
Monument
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
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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
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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.
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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 of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.
(Presidential Sig.)<Clinton1><Clinton2>
Billing code 3195-01-P