[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7343-7346]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2099]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 14 / Monday, January 22, 2001 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 7343]]
Proclamation 7394 of January 17, 2001
Establishment of the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks
National Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Located on the Pajarito Plateau in north central New
Mexico, the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
is a remarkable outdoor laboratory, offering an
opportunity to observe, study, and experience the
geologic processes that shape natural landscapes, as
well as other cultural and biological objects of
interest. The area is rich in pumice, ash, and tuff
deposits, the light-colored, cone-shaped tent rock
formations that are the products of explosive volcanic
eruptions that occurred between 6 and 7 million years
ago. Small canyons lead inward from cliff faces, and
over time, wind and water have scooped openings of all
shapes and sizes in the rocks and have contoured the
ends of the ravines and canyons into smooth
semicircles. In these canyons, erosion-resistant
caprocks protect the softer tents below. While the
formations are uniform in shape, they vary in height
from a few feet to 90 feet, and the layering of
volcanic material intersperses bands of grey with beige
colored rock.
Amid the formations and in contrast to the muted colors
of the rocks of the monument, vibrant green leaves and
red bark of manzanita, a shrubby species from the
Sierra Madre of Mexico, cling to the cracks and
crevices of the cliff faces. Red-tailed hawks,
kestrels, violet-green swallows, and Western bluebirds
soar above the canyons and use the pinion and ponderosa
covered terrain near the cliffs.
The complex landscape and spectacular geologic scenery
of the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument has
been a focal point for visitors for centuries. Human
settlement is believed to have begun in the monument as
a series of campsites during the Archaic period, from
approximately 5500 B.C. During the fifteenth century,
several large ancestral pueblos were established in the
area. Their descendants, the Pueblo de Cochiti, still
inhabit the surrounding area. Although the Spanish
explorer Don Juan de Onate reached the Pajarito Plateau
in 1598, it was not until the late eighteenth century
that families began to claim land grants around Tent
Rocks from the Spanish Crown. Remnants of human history
are scattered throughout the monument.
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 Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks 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
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June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim
that there are hereby set apart and reserved as the
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks 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 ``Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks
National Monument'' attached to and forming a part of
this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in
land reserved consist of approximately 4,148 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.
For the purpose of protecting the objects identified
above, the Secretary 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.
The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument
through the Bureau of Land Management, pursuant to
applicable legal authorities and in close cooperation
with the Pueblo de Cochiti, 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 include appropriate transportation planning that
addresses the actions, including road closures or
travel restrictions, necessary to protect the objects
identified in this proclamation and to further the
purposes of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act
of August 11, 1978 (42 U.S.C. 1996).
Only a very small amount of livestock grazing occurs
inside the monument. The Secretary of the Interior
shall retire the portion of the grazing allotments
within the monument, pursuant to applicable law, unless
the Secretary specifically finds that livestock grazing
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 New Mexico
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
Secretary 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 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
seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand one, and of the
[[Page 7345]]
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-fifth.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3195-01-P
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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD22JA01.180
[FR Doc. 01-2099 Filed 1-19-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C