82 FR 58089 - Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Executive Office of the President
Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 235 (December 8, 2017)
Page Range
58089-58096
FR Document
2017-26714
Federal Register, Volume 82 Issue 235 (Friday, December 8, 2017)
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 235 (Friday, December 8, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 58089-58096]
From the Federal Register Online [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26714]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 82 , No. 235 / Friday, December 8, 2017 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 58089]]
Proclamation 9682 of December 4, 2017
Modifying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
In Proclamation 6920 of September 18, 1996, and
exercising his authority under the Act of June 8, 1906
(34 Stat. 225) (the ``Antiquities Act''), President
William J. Clinton established the Grand Staircase-
Escalante National Monument in the State of Utah,
reserving approximately 1.7 million acres of Federal
lands for the care and management of objects of
historic and scientific interest identified therein.
The monument is managed by the Department of the
Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This
proclamation makes certain modifications to the
monument.
Proclamation 6920 identifies a long list of objects of
historic or scientific interest within the boundaries
of the monument. In the 20 years since the designation,
the BLM and academic researchers have studied the
monument to better understand the geology,
paleontology, archeology, history, and biology of the
area.
The Antiquities Act requires that any reservation of
land as part of a monument be confined to the smallest
area compatible with the proper care and management of
the objects of historic or scientific interest to be
protected. Determining the appropriate protective area
involves examination of a number of factors, including
the uniqueness and nature of the objects, the nature of
the needed protection, and the protection provided by
other laws.
Proclamation 6920 identifies the monument area as rich
with paleontological sites and fossils, including
marine and brackish water mollusks, turtles,
crocodilians, lizards, dinosaurs, fishes, and mammals,
as well as terrestrial vertebrate fauna, including
mammals, of the Cenomanian-Santonian ages, and one of
the most continuous records of Late Cretaceous
terrestrial life in the world. Nearly 2 decades of
intense study of the monument has provided a better
understanding of the areas with the highest
concentrations of fossil resources and the best
opportunities to discover previously unknown species.
While formations like the Wahweap and Kaiparowits occur
only in southern Utah and provide an important record
of Late Cretaceous fossils, others like the Chinle and
Morrison formations occur throughout the Colorado
Plateau. The modified monument boundaries take into
account this new information and, as described in more
detail below, retain the majority of the high-potential
areas for locating new fossil resources that have been
identified within the area reserved by Proclamation
6920.
Proclamation 6920 also identifies a number of unique
geological formations and landscape features within the
monument boundaries. These include the Grand Staircase,
White Cliffs, Vermilion Cliffs, Kaiparowits Plateau,
Upper Paria Canyon System, Upper Escalante Canyons,
Burning Hills, Circle Cliffs, East Kaibab Monocline,
Grosvenor Arch, and Escalante Natural Bridge, all of
which are retained in whole or part within the revised
monument boundaries. The Waterpocket Fold, however, is
located mostly within the Capitol Reef National Park
and the portions within the monument are not unique or
particularly scientifically significant. Therefore, the
boundaries of the monument may be modified to exclude
the Waterpocket Fold without imperiling the proper care
and management of that formation. The more general
landscape features discussed in the proclamation, such
as serpentine
[[Page 58090]]
canyons, arches, and natural bridges, are common across
the Colorado Plateau both within and outside of the
modified boundaries of the monument described below.
Archeological and historic objects identified within
the monument are more generally discussed in
Proclamation 6920, which specifically identifies only
the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail, the Paria Townsite, and
Dance Hall Rock as objects of historic or scientific
interest, all 3 of which will remain within the revised
monument boundaries, although a portion of the Hole-in-
the-Rock Trail will be excluded. Proclamation 6920 also
describes Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan rock art
panels, occupation sites, campsites, and granaries, as
well as historic objects such as those left behind by
Mormon pioneers, including trails, inscriptions, ghost
towns, rock houses, and cowboy line camps. These are
artifacts that are known to generally occur across the
Four Corners region, particularly in southern Utah, and
the examples found within the monument are not, as
described, of any unique or distinctive scientific or
historic significance. In light of the prevalence of
similar objects throughout the region, the existing
boundaries of the monument are not ``the smallest area
compatible with the proper care'' of these objects, and
they may be excluded from the monument's boundaries.
Further, many of these objects or examples of these
objects are retained within the modified boundaries
described below.
Finally, with respect to the animal and plant species,
Proclamation 6920 characterizes the area as one of the
richest floristic regions in the Intermountain West,
but it identifies only a few specific species as
objects of scientific or historic interest. The revised
boundaries contain the majority of habitat types
originally protected by Proclamation 6920.
Thus, many of the objects identified by Proclamation
6920 are not unique to the monument, and some of the
particular examples of those objects within the
monument are not of significant historic or scientific
interest. Moreover, many of the objects identified by
Proclamation 6920 are not under threat of damage or
destruction such that they require a reservation of
land to protect them; in fact, many are already subject
to Federal protection under existing law and agency
management designations. The BLM manages nearly 900,000
acres of lands within the existing monument as
Wilderness Study Areas, which the BLM is already
required by law to manage so as not to impair the
suitability of such areas for future congressional
designation as Wilderness.
A host of laws enacted after the Antiquities Act
provide specific protection for archaeological,
historic, cultural, paleontological, and plant and
animal resources and give authority to the BLM to
condition permitted activities on Federal lands,
whether within or outside a monument. These laws
include the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of
1979, 16 U.S.C. 470aa-470mm, National Historic
Preservation Act, 54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq., Bald and
Golden Eagle Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. 668-668d,
Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.,
Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988, 16
U.S.C. 4301 et seq., Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq., Migratory Bird
Treaty Act, 16 U.S.C. 703-712, Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act of 1976, 25 U.S.C. 3001
et seq., and Paleontological Resources Preservation
Act, 16 U.S.C. 470aaa-470aaa-11. Of particular note,
the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act, enacted
in 2009, imposes criminal penalties for unauthorized
excavation, removal, damage, alteration, or defacement
of paleontological resources. Federal land management
agencies can grant permits authorizing excavation or
removal, but only when undertaken for the purpose of
furthering paleontological knowledge. The
Archaeological Resources Protection Act contains very
similar provisions protecting archeological resources.
And the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Endangered
Species Act protect migratory birds and listed
endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
[[Page 58091]]
Especially in light of the research conducted since
designation, I find that the current boundaries of the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument established
by Proclamation 6920 are greater than the smallest area
compatible with the protection of the objects for which
lands were reserved and, therefore, that the boundaries
of the monument should be reduced to 3 areas: Grand
Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyons. These
revisions will ensure that the monument is no larger
than necessary for the proper care and management of
the objects.
The Grand Staircase area is named for one of the iconic
landscapes in the American West. An unbroken sequence
of cliffs and plateaus, considered to be the most
colorful exposed geologic section in the world, has
inspired wonder in visitors since the days of early
western explorers.
The White Cliffs that rise more than 1,500 feet from
the desert floor are the hardened remains of the
largest sand sea that ever existed. The deep red
Vermilion Cliffs, once the eastern shore of the ancient
Lake Dixie, contain a rich fossil record from the Late
Triassic period to the early Jurassic period, including
petrified wood, fish, dinosaur, and other reptilian
bones. Fossil footprints are also common, including
those at the Flag Point tracksite, which includes
dinosaur fossil tracks adjacent to a Native American
rock art panel depicting dinosaur tracks. This area
also contains a number of relict vegetative communities
occurring on isolated mesa tops, an example of which,
No Mans Mesa, was identified in Proclamation 6920.
The archaeology of the Grand Staircase area is
dominated by sites constructed by the Virgin Branch of
the Ancestral Puebloans--ancient horticulturalists and
farmers who subsisted largely on corn, beans, and
squash, and occupied the area from nearly 2000 B.C.E.
to about 1250 C.E. The landscape was also the home of
some of the earliest corn-related agriculture in the
Southwest, and it continues to hold remnants of these
early farmsteads and small pueblos. The evidence of
this history, including remnants of the beginning of
agriculture, development of prehistoric farming
systems, and the final abandonment of the area, is
concentrated in the lower levels of the Grand
Staircase. The higher cliffs, benches, and plateaus
hold evidence of occupation by Archaic and Late
Prehistoric people, including Clovis and other
projectile points and residential pit structures that
indicate occupation by hunter-gatherers starting about
13,000 years ago.
Following the abandonment of the area by Ancestral
Puebloans, the area was re-occupied by a new population
of hunter-gatherers, the people known today as the
Southern Paiute Indians. The Southern Paiute Indians
identify this area as part of their ancestral homeland.
Still later Mormon pioneers settled the area, as
evidenced by remnants of roads, trails, line shacks,
rock houses, and abandoned town sites.
The Kaiparowits area is dominated by a dissected mesa
that rises thousands of feet above the surrounding
terrain. These vast, rugged badlands are characterized
by towering cliffs and escarpments that expose tiers of
fossil-rich formations.
In addition to striking scenery, the area is world-
renowned for rich fossil resources, including 16
species that have been found nowhere else. The plateau
is considered one of the best, most continuous records
of Late Cretaceous life in the world. It includes
fossils of mollusks, reptiles, dinosaurs, fishes, and
mammals, as well as the only evidence in our hemisphere
of terrestrial vertebrate fauna from the Cenomanian
through Santonian ages. Since 2000, nearly 4,000 new
fossil sites have been documented on the plateau. The
Dakota, Tropic Shale, Wahweap, and Kaiparowits
formations in the area have been found to contain
numerous important fossils, including those of early
mammals and reptiles (Dakota); marine reptiles,
including 5 species of plesiosaur and North America's
oldest mosasaur (Tropic Shale); and multiple new
species of dinosaurs (Wahweap and Kaiparowits),
including the Diabloceratops eatoni, a relative of the
Triceratops named for its devil-like horns, and the
Lythronax argestes, whose name means ``Gore King of the
Southwest.''
[[Page 58092]]
The Kaiparowits area also includes objects of geologic
interest, which Proclamation 6920 identified. The
rugged canyons and natural arches of the Upper Paria
River expose the colorful and varied Carmel and Entrada
formations that draw visitors to the area. One of the
most famous arches, Grosvenor Arch, is a rare double
arch that towers more than 150 feet above the desert
floor. The area also contains ``hydrothermal-collapse''
pipes and dikes that have revealed to researchers a
fascinating story of a geologic catastrophe triggered
by either a massive earthquake or an asteroid impact.
The western side of the Kaiparowits area includes the
majority of the East Kaibab Monocline, which features
an erosional ``hogback'' known as the ``Cockscomb,'' as
well as broad exposures of multicolored rocks and
intricate canyons. It is considered one of the true
scenic and geologic wonders of the area. On the east
side of the plateau, the scorched earth of the Burning
Hills is a geologic curiosity: a vast underground coal
seam that some researchers believe has been burning for
eons, sending acrid smoke up through vents in the
ground and turning the hillsides brick red. Finally,
along the eastern edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau is a
series of oddly shaped arches and other rock formations
known as the Devil's Garden.
The Kaiparowits area also contains a unique record of
human history. The overall archaeology of the
Kaiparowits Plateau is dominated by Archaic and Late
Prehistoric era sites. There are, however, a few
important sites that tell the story of occupation first
by the Fremont, who came from an area to the east, and
later by Virgin and Kayenta Ancestral Puebloans. These
sites show new types of architecture and pottery that
mixed traditional Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan
styles. Prehistoric cliff structures in parts of the
Kaiparowits Plateau are well preserved and provide
researchers and visitors an opportunity to better
understand the apparently peaceful mixture of 3
cultures starting in the early 1100s. In particular,
the Fifty-Mile Mountain area contains hundreds of
cultural resource sites, including Ancestral Puebloan
habitations, granaries, and masonry structures.
Historical use of the Kaiparowits area plays a very
important part in the rich ranching history of southern
Utah, which is evidenced by a complex pattern of roads,
stock trails, line shacks, attempted farmsteads, and
small mining operations. Fifty-Mile Mountain, in
particular, contains a number of historic cabins, as
well as other evidence of pioneer living, including
ruins, rip-gut fences, and historic trails. It is
believed that Zane Grey used the Fifty-Mile Mountain
area as a landscape reference point when he wrote
``Wild Horse Mesa.'' There are also a number of
historic signature panels across the plateau that
document continued grazing and ranching use of the
landscape by multiple generations of the same families.
To the east of Fifty-Mile Mountain in the Escalante
Desert, Dance Hall Rock stands out as an important
landmark of Mormon pioneers. While the Hole-in-the-Rock
Trail was under construction in 1879, Mormon pioneers
camped in this area and held meetings and dances here.
Similarly, as described above, the old Paria Townsite
is an important ghost town within the Kaiparowits area,
as it served as the only town and post office site
within the area at the turn of the 20th century.
The Escalante Canyons area likewise contains objects of
significance. The canyonlands of the area provide a
fantastic display of geologic activities and erosional
forces that, over millions of years, created a network
of deep, narrow canyons, high plateaus, sheer cliffs,
and beautiful sandstone arches and natural bridges,
including the 130-foot-tall Escalante Natural Bridge.
Additionally, this area boasts Calf Creek Canyon, a
canyon of red alcoved walls with expanses of white
slickrock that is named for its use as a natural cattle
pen at the end of the 19th century.
To the east of the Canyonlands, Circle Cliffs is a
breached anticline with spectacular painted-desert
scenery, the result of exposed sedimentary rocks of the
Triassic Chinle and Moenkopi formations. The Circle
Cliffs area also contains large, unbroken petrified
logs up to 30 feet in length. A
[[Page 58093]]
nearly complete articulated skeleton of Poposauras--a
rare bipedal crocodilian fossil--was also found here.
The Escalante Canyons area also contains a high density
of Fremont prehistoric sites, including pithouses,
villages, storage cysts, and rock art. The canyon of
the Escalante River and its tributary canyons contain
one of the highest densities of rock art sites in
southwestern Utah outside of Capitol Reef National
Park, with sites dating from the Archaic to the
Historic periods. The Hundred Hands rock art panel is
located in the river canyon, and is spiritually
significant to all tribes that claim ancestry in the
area.
There are also significant historic sites in this area
related to grazing and ranching, along with the Boulder
Mail Trail, which was used to ferry mail between the
small desert outpost towns of Escalante and Boulder
beginning in 1902. Today, much of the trail is still
visible, and it has become popular with backpackers.
The areas described above are the smallest compatible
with the proper care and management of the objects to
be protected. The Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument, as modified by this proclamation, will
maintain and protect those objects and preserve the
area's cultural, scientific, and historic legacy.
WHEREAS, Proclamation 6920 of September 18, 1996,
established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument in the State of Utah and reserved
approximately 1.7 million acres of Federal lands for
the care and management of the objects of historic and
scientific interest identified therein; and
WHEREAS, many of the objects identified by Proclamation
6920 are otherwise protected by Federal law; and
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to modify the
boundary of the monument to exclude from its
designation and reservation approximately 861,974 acres
of land that I find are no longer necessary for the
proper care and management of the objects to be
protected within the monument; and
WHEREAS, the boundaries of the monument reservation
should therefore be reduced to the smallest area
compatible with the protection of the objects of
scientific or historic interest, as described above in
this proclamation;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code,
hereby proclaim that the boundary of the Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument is hereby
modified and reduced to those lands and interests in
lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government
within the boundaries described on the accompanying
map, which is attached to and forms a part of this
proclamation. I hereby further proclaim that the
modified monument areas identified on the accompanying
map shall be known as the Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits,
and Escalante Canyons units of the monument. These
reserved Federal lands and interests in lands
cumulatively encompass approximately 1,003,863 acres.
The boundaries described on the accompanying map are
confined to the smallest area compatible with the
proper care and management of the objects to be
protected.
Any lands reserved by Proclamation 6920 not within the
boundaries identified on the accompanying map are
hereby excluded from the monument.
At 9:00 a.m., eastern standard time, on the date that
is 60 days after the date of this proclamation, subject
to valid existing rights, the provisions of existing
withdrawals, and the requirements of applicable law,
the public lands excluded from the monument reservation
shall be open to:
(1) entry, location, selection, sale or other
disposition under the public land laws;
(2) disposition under all laws relating to mineral
and geothermal leasing; and
(3) location, entry, and patent under the mining
laws.
[[Page 58094]]
Appropriation of lands under the mining laws before the
date and time of restoration is unauthorized. Any such
attempted appropriation, including attempted adverse
possession under 30 U.S.C. 38, shall vest no rights
against the United States. Acts required to establish a
location and to initiate a right of possession are
governed by State law where not in conflict with
Federal law.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to
revoke, modify, or affect any withdrawal, reservation,
or appropriation, other than the one created by
Proclamation 6920.
Nothing in this proclamation shall change the
management of the areas designated and reserved by
Proclamation 6920 that remain part of the monument in
accordance with the terms of this proclamation, except
as provided by the following 5 paragraphs:
Paragraph 14 of Proclamation 6920 is updated and
clarified to require that the Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary) prepare and maintain a management plan for
each of the 3 units of the monument with maximum public
involvement including, but not limited to, consultation
with federally recognized tribes and State and local
governments. The Secretary, through the BLM, shall also
consult with other Federal land management agencies in
the local area in developing the management plans.
Proclamation 6920 is amended to provide that the
Secretary shall maintain one or more advisory
committees under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5
U.S.C. App.) to provide information and advice
regarding the development of the above-described
management plans, and, as appropriate, management of
the monument. Any advisory committee maintained shall
consist of a fair and balanced representation of
interested stakeholders, including State and local
governments, tribes, recreational users, local business
owners, and private landowners.
Proclamation 6920 is clarified to provide that,
consistent with protection of the objects identified
above and other applicable law, the Secretary may allow
motorized and non[dash]mechanized vehicle use on roads
and trails existing immediately before the issuance of
Proclamation 6920 and maintain roads and trails for
such use.
Paragraph 12 of Proclamation 6920 governing livestock
grazing in the monument is hereby modified to read as
follows: ``Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed
to affect authorizations for livestock grazing, or
administration thereof, on Federal lands within the
monument. Livestock grazing within the monument shall
continue to be governed by laws and regulations other
than this proclamation.''
Proclamation 6920 is amended to clarify that,
consistent with the care and management of the objects
identified above, the Secretary may authorize
ecological restoration and active vegetation management
activities in the monument.
If any provision of this proclamation, including its
application to a particular parcel of land, is held to
be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its
application to other parcels of land shall not be
affected thereby.
[[Page 58095]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord two
thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
second.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3295-F8-P
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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD08DE17.004
[FR Doc. 2017-26714
Filed 12-7-17; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4310-10-C