Compilation of Weekly Presidential Documents - June 12, 2000 - Proclamation 7319--Establishment of the Hanford Reach National Monument

Monday, June 12, 2000

 

Volume 36, Issue 23; ISSN: 0511-4187

 

Proclamation 7319--Establishment of the Hanford Reach National Monument

William J Clinton

 

 

� June 9, 2000

 

 

� By the President ofthe United States of America

 

 

� A Proclamation

 

 

� The Hanford Reach National Monument is a unique and biologically

diverse landscape, encompassing an array of scientific and historic

objects. This magnificent area contains an irreplaceable natural and

historic legacy, preserved by unusual circumstances. Maintained as a

buffer area in a Federal reservation conducting nuclear weapons

develop ment and, more recently, environmental cleanup activities,

with limits on development and human use for the past SO years, the

monument is now a haven for important and increasingly scarce

objects of scientific and historic interest. Bisected by the

stunning Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, the monument contains

the largest remnant of the shrub-steppe ecosystem that once

blanketed the Columbia River Basin. The monument is also one of the

few remaining archaeologically rich areas in the western Columbia

Plateau, containing well-preserved remnants of human history

spanning more than 10,000 years. The monument is equally rich in

geologic history, with dramatic landscapes that reveal the creative

forces of tectonic, volcanic, and erosive power.

 

 

� The monument is a biological treasure, embracing important

riparian, aquatic, and upland shrub-steppe habitats that are rare or

in decline in other areas. Within its mosaic of habitats, the

monument supports a wealth of increasingly uncommon native plant and

animal species, the size and diversity of which is unmatched in the

Columbia Basin. Migrating salmon, birds, and hundreds of other

native plant and animal species rely on its natural ecosystems.

 

 

� The monument includes the 51-mile long "Hanford Reach," the last

free-flowing, nontidal stretch of the Columbia River. The Reach

contains islands, riffles, gravel bars, oxbow ponds, and backwater

sloughs that support some of the most productive spawning areas in

the Northwest, where approximately 80 percent of the upper Columbia

Basin's fall Chinook salmon spawn. It also supports healthy runs of

naturally-spawning sturgeon and other highly-valued fish species.

The loss of other spawning grounds on the Columbia and its

tributaries has increased the importance of the Hanford Reach for

fisheries.

 

 

� The monument contains one of the last remaining large blocks of

shrub-steppe ecosystems in the Columbia River Basin, supporting an

unusually high diversity of native plant and animal species. A large

number of rare and sensitive plant species are found dispersed

throughout the monument. A recent inventory resulted in the

discovery of two plant species new to science, the Umtanum desert

buckwheat and the White Bluffs bladderpod. Fragile microbiotic

crusts, themselves of biological interest, are well developed in the

monument and play an important role in stabilizing soils and

providing nutrients to plants.

 

 

� The monument contains significant breeding populations of nearly

all steppe and shrub-steppe dependent birds, including the

loggerhead shrike, the sage sparrow, the sage thrasher, and the

ferruginous hawk. The Hanford Reach and surrounding wetlands provide

important stop-over habitat for migratory birds, as well as habitat

for many resident species. The area is important wintering habitat

for bald eagles, white pelicans, and many species of waterfowl such

as mallards, green-winged teal, pintails, goldeneye, gadwall, and

buffleheads. The monument's bluff habitats provide valuable nesting

sites for several bird species, including prairie falcons, and

important perch sites for raptors such as peregrine falcons.

 

 

� Many species of mammals are also found within the monument,

including elk, beaver, badgers, and bobcats. Insect populations,

though less conspicuous, include species that have been lost

elsewhere due to habitat conversion, fragmentation, and application

of pesticides. A recent biological inventory uncovered 41 species

and 2 subspecies of insects new to science and many species not

before identified in the State of Washington. Such rich and diverse

insect populations are important to supporting the fauna in the

monument.

 

 

� In addition to its vital biological resources, the monument

contains significant geological and paleontological objects. The

Late-Miocene to late-Pliocene Ringold Formation, known as the White

Bluffs, was formed from river and lake sediments deposited by the

ancestral Columbia River and its tributaries. These striking cliffs

form the eastern bank of the Columbia for nearly half of the length

of the Reach, and are significant for the mammalian fossils that

they contain. Fossil remains from rhinoceros, camel, and mastodon,

among others, have been found within these bluffs.

 

 

� The Hanford Dune Field, located on the western shore of the

Columbia in the southeastern part of the monument, is also of

geologic significance. This active area of migrating barchan dunes

and partially stabilized transverse dunes rises 10 to 16 feet above

the ground, creating sandy habitats ranging from 2 to several

hundred acres in size.

 

 

� The monument also contains important archaeological and historic

information. More than 10,000 years of human activity in this

largely arid environment have left extensive archaeological

deposits. Areas upland from the river show evidence of concentrated

human activity, and recent surveys indicate extensive use of arid

lowlands for hunting. Hundreds of prehistoric archaeological sites

have been recorded, including the remains of pithouses, graves,

spirit quest monuments, hunting camps, game drive complexes,

quarries, and hunting and kill sites. A number of Native American

groups still have cultural ties to the monument. The monument also

contains some historic structures and other remains from more recent

human activities, including homesteads from small towns established

along the riverbanks in the early 20th century.

 

 

� 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 Hanford

Reach 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 Hanford Reach

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 "Hanford Reach National Monument"

attached to and forming a part of this proclamation. The Federal

land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 195,000

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.

 

 

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

Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy shall prohibit

all motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road, except for

emergency or other federally authorized purposes, including

remediation purposes. There is hereby reserved, as of the date of

this proclamation and subject to valid existing rights, a quantity

of water in the Columbia River 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.

 

 

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

Secretary of the Interior shall prohibit livestock grazing.

 

 

� The monument shall be managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

under existing agreements with the Department of Energy, except that

the Department of Energy shall manage the lands within the monument

that are not subject to management agreements with the Service, and

in developing any management plans and rules and regulations

governing the portions of the monument for which the Department of

Energy has management responsibility, the Secretary of Energy shall

consult with the Secretary of the Interior.

 

 

� As the Department of Energy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

determine that lands within the monument managed by the Department

of Energy become suitable for management by the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will assume

management by agreement with the Department of Energy. All

agreements between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the

Department of Energy shall be consistent with the provisions of this

proclamation.

 

 

� Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the responsibility of the

Department of Energy under environmental laws, including the

remediation of hazardous substances or the restoration of natural

resources at the Hanford facility; nor affect the Department of

Energy's statutory authority to control public access or statutory

responsibility to take other measures for environmental remediation,

monitoring, security, safety, or emergency preparedness purposes;

nor affect any Department of Energy activities on lands not included

within the monument.

 

 

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

the jurisdiction of the State of Washington with respect to fish and

wildlife management.

 

 

� Nothing in this proclamation shall enlarge or diminish the rights

of any Indian tribe. The establishment of this monument is subject

to valid existing rights.

 

 

� Nothing in this proclamation shall interfere with the operation and

maintenance of existing facilities of the Columbia Basin Reclamation

Project, the Federal Columbia River Transmission System, or other

existing utility services that are located within the monument.

Existing Federal Columbia River Transmission System facilities

located within the monument may be replaced, modified and expanded,

and new facilities constructed within the monument, as authorized by

other applicable law. Such replacement, modification, expansion, or

construction of new facilities shall be carried out in a manner

consistent with proper care and management of the objects of this

proclamation, to be determined in accordance with the management

arrangements previously set out in this proclamation.

 

 

� 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

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

 

 

� William J. Clinton

 

 

� [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:47 a.m., June

12, 2000]

 

 

 

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