Monday, January 22, 2001
Volume 37, Issue 3; ISSN: 0511-4187
Proclamation 7397--establishment of the Sonoran Desert National Monument
William J Clinton
� January 17, 2001
� By the President of the United States of America
� A Proclamation
� The Sonoran Desert National Monument is a magnificent example of
untrammeled Sonoran desert landscape. The area encompasses a
functioning desert ecosystem with an extraordinary array of
biological, scientific, and historic resources. The most
biologically diverse of the North American deserts, the monument
consists of distinct mountain ranges separated by wide valleys, and
includes large saguaro cactus forest communities that provide
excellent habitat for a wide range of wildlife species.
� The monument's biological resources include a spectacular diversity
of plant and animal species. The higher peaks include unique
woodland assemblages, while the lower elevation lands offer one of
the most structurally complex examples of palo verde/mixed cacti
association in the Sonoran Desert. The dense stands of leguminous
trees and cacti are dominated by saguaros, Palo-verde trees,
ironwood, prickly pear, and cholla. Important natural water holes,
known as tinajas, exist throughout the monument. The endangered
acuna pineapple cactus is also found in the monument.
� The most striking aspect of the plant communities within the
monument are the abundant saguaro cactus forests. The saguaro is a
signature plant of the Sonoran Desert. Individual saguaro plants are
indeed magnificent, but a forest of these plants, together with the
wide variety of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that make up
the forest community, is an impressive site to behold. The saguaro
cactus forests within the monument are a national treasure, rivaling
those within the Saguaro National Park.
� The rich diversity, density, and distribution of plants in the Sand
Tank Mountains area of the monument is especially striking and can
be attributed to the management regime in place since the area was
withdrawn for military purposes in 1941. In particular, while some
public access to the area is allowed, no livestock grazing has
occurred for nearly 50 years. To extend the extraordinary diversity
and overall ecological health of the Sand Tanks Mountains area, land
adjacent and with biological resources similar to the area withdrawn
for military purposes should be subject to a similar management
regime to the fullest extent possible.
� The monument contains an abundance of packrat middens, allowing for
scientific analysis of plant species and climates in past eras.
Scientific analysis of the midden shows that the area received far
more precipitation 20,000 years ago, and slowly became more arid.
Vegetation for the area changed from juniper-oak-pinion pine
woodland to the vegetation found today in the Sonoran Desert,
although a few plants from the more mesic period, including the Kofa
Mountain barberry, Arizona rosewood, and junipers, remain on higher
elevations of north-facing slopes.
� The lower elevations and flatter areas of the monument contain the
creosote-bursage plant community. This plant community thrives in
the open expanses between the mountain ranges, and connects the
other plant communities together. Rare patches of desert grassland
can also be found throughout the monument, especially in the Sand
Tank Mountains area. The washes in the area support a much denser
vegetation community than the surrounding desert, including
mesquite, ironwood, paloverde, desert honeysuckle, chuperosa, and
desert willow, as well as a variety of herbaceous plants. This
vegetation offers the dense cover bird species need for successful
nesting, foraging, and escape, and birds heavily use the washes
during migration.
� The diverse plant communities present in the monument support a
wide variety of wildlife, including the endangered Sonoran
pronghorn, a robust population of desert bighorn sheep, especially
in the Maricopa Mountains area, and other mammalian species such as
mule deer, javelina, mountain lion, gray fox, and bobcat. Bat
species within the monument include the endangered lesser long-nosed
bat, the California lead-nosed bat, and the cave myotis. Over 200
species of birds are found in the monument, including 59 species
known to nest in the Vekol Valley area. Numerous species of raptors
and owls inhabit the monument, including the elf owl and the western
screech owl. The monument also supports a diverse array of reptiles
and amphibians, including the Sonoran desert tortoise and the
red-backed whiptail. The Bureau of Land Management has designated
approximately 25,000 acres of land in the Maricopa Mountains area as
critical habitat for the desert tortoise. The Vekol Valley and Sand
Tank Mountain areas contain especially diverse and robust
populations of amphibians. During summer rainfall events, thousands
of Sonoran green toads in the Vekol Valley can be heard moving
around and calling out.
� The monument also contains many significant archaeological and
historic sites, including rock art sites, lithic quarries, and
scattered artifacts. Vekol Wash is believed to have been an
important prehistoric travel and trade corridor between the Hohokam
and tribes located in what is now Mexico. Signs of large villages
and permanent habitat sites occur throughout the area, and
particularly along the bajadas of the Table Top Mountains. Occupants
of these villages were the ancestors of today's O'odham, Quechan,
Cocopah, Maricopa, and other tribes. The monument also contains a
much used trail corridor 23 miles long in which are found remnants
of several important historic trails, including the Juan Bautista de
Anza National Historic Trail, the Mormon Battalion Trail, and the
Butterfield Overland Stage Route.
� 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 Sonoran
Desert 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 Sonoran Desert
National Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects
identified above, all lands and interest in lands owned or
controlled by the United States within the boundaries of the area
described on the map entitled "Sonoran Desert National Monument"
attached to and forming a part of this proclamation. The Federal
land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 486,149
acres, which is the smallest area compatible with the proper care
and management of the objects to be protected.
� For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, all
motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road will be prohibited,
except for emergency or authorized administrative purposes.
� Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish
the jurisdiction of the State of Arizona with respect to fish and
wildlife management.
� The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing
rights.
� 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. Lands and interests in lands within the
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.
� This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law
nor relinquish any water rights held by the Federal Government
existing on this date. The Federal land management agencies shall
work with appropriate State authorities to ensure that water
resources needed for monument purposes are available.
� 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. That portion
identified as Area A on the map, however, shall be managed under the
management arrangement established by section 3 of Public Law No.
99-- 606, 100 Stat. 3460-61, until November 6, 2001, at which time,
pursuant to section 5(a) of Public Law No. 99-606, 100 Stat. 346263,
the military withdrawal terminates. At that time, the Secretary of
the Interior shall assume management responsibility for Area A
through the Bureau of Land Management.
� The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a management plan that
addresses the actions, including road closures or travel
restrictions, necessary to protect the objects identified in this
proclamation.
� 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; provided, however, that grazing
permits on Federal lands within the monument south of Interstate
Highway 8 shall not be renewed at the end of their current term; and
provided further, that grazing on Federal lands north of Interstate
8 shall be allowed to continue only to the extent that the Bureau of
Land Management determines that grazing is compatible with the
paramount purpose of protecting the objects identified 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.
� Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low level overflights
of military aircraft, the designation of new units of special use
airspace, or the use or establishment of military flight training
routes over the lands included in this proclamation.
� In order to protect the public during operations at the adjacent
Barry M. Goldwater Range, and to continue management practices that
have resulted in an exceptionally well preserved natural resource,
the current procedures for public access to the portion of the
monument depicted as Area A on the attached map shall remain in full
force and effect, except to the extent that the United States Air
Force agrees to different procedures which the Bureau of Land
Management determines are compatible with the protection of the
objects identified in this proclamation.
� 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
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-fifth.
� William J. Clinton
� [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 am., January
19,2001]
� NOTE: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on
January 22.
