[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 17 (Thursday, January 25, 2001)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 7855-7857]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2399]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 17 / Thursday, January 25, 2001 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 7855]]
Proclamation 7402 of January 19, 2001
Establishment of the Governors Island National
Monument
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.
[[Page 7856]]
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,
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.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3195-01-P
[[Page 7857]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD25JA01.000
[FR Doc. 01-2399
Filed 1-24-01; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-C