Monday, January 22, 2001

 

Volume 37, Issue 3; ISSN: 0511-4187

 

Proclamation 7392--boundary enlargement and modifications of the Buck Island

Reef National Monument

William J Clinton

 

 

� January 17,2001

 

 

� By the President of the United States ofAmerica

 

 

� A Proclamation

 

 

� Buck Island Reef National Monument was established on December 28,

1961 (Presidential Proclamation 3443), just north of St. Croix in

the U.S. Virgin Islands, for the purpose of protecting Buck Island

and its adjoining shoals, rocks, and undersea coral reef formations.

Considered one of the forest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea,

the unique natural area and the rare marine life which are dependent

upon it are subject to the constant threat of commercial

exploitation and destruction. The monument's vulnerable floral and

faunal communities live in a fragile, interdependent relationship

and include habitats essential for sustaining the tropical marine

ecosystem: coral reefs, sea grass beds, octocoral hardbottom, sand

communities, algal plains, shelf edge, and oceanic habitats. The

boundary enlargement effected by this proclamation brings into the

monument additional objects of scientific and historic interest, and

provides necessary further protection for the resources of the

existing monument.

 

 

� The expansion area includes additional coral reefs (patch, pur and

groove, and deep and wall), unusual "haystacks" of elkhorn coral,

barrier reefs, sea grass beds, and sand communities, as well as

algal plains, shelf edge, and other supporting habitats not included

within the initial boundary. Oceanic currents carry planktonic

larvae of coral reef associated animals to the shallow nearshore

coral reef and sea grass habitats, where they transform into their

juvenile stage. As they mature over months or years, they move

offshore and take up residence in the deeper coral reefs, octocoral

hardbottom, and algal plains. Between the monument's nearshore

habitats and its shelf edge spawning sites are habitats that play

essential roles during specific developmental stages of many

reef-associated species, including spawning migrations of many reef

fish species and crustaceans. Several threatened and endangered

species forage, breed, nest, rest, or calve in the waters included

in the enlarged monument, including humpback whales, pilot whales,

four species of dolphins, brown pelicans, least terns, and the

hawksbill, leatherback, and green sea turtles. Countless species of

reef fishes, invertebrates, plants, and over 12 species of sea birds

utilize this area.

 

 

� The ecologically important shelf edge is the spawning site for many

reef species, such as most groupers and snappers, and the spiny

lobster. Plummeting to abyssal depths, this habitat of vertical

walls, honeycombed with holes and caves, is home to deepwater

species and a refuge for other species.

 

 

� The expansion area also contains significant cultural and

historical objects. In March 1797, the slave ship Mary, captained by

James Hunter of Liverpool, sank in this area, and its cargo of 240

slaves was saved and brought to Christiansted. In March 1803, the

General Abercrombie, captained by James Booth of Liverpool, also

wrecked in this area, and its cargo of 339 slaves was brought to

Christiansted. Slave shipwrecks in U.S. waters are rare. The

monument contains remnants of these wrecks. Other wrecks may also

exist in 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 an addition to the Buck Island Reef 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 an addition to the Buck

Island Reef National Monument, for the purpose of care, management,

and protection of the objects of historic and scientific interest

situated on lands within the said monument, all lands and interests

in lands owned or controlled by the United States within the

boundaries of the area described on the map entitled "Buck Island

Reef National Monument Boundary Enlargement" attached to and forming

a part of this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land

reserved consist of approximately 18,135 marine 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 boat anchoring, provided that the

Secretary may permit exceptions for emergency or authorized

administrative purposes, and may issue permits for anchoring in deep

sand bottom areas, to the extent that it is consistent with the

protection of the objects.

 

 

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

Secretary shall prohibit all extractive uses. This prohibition

supersedes the limited authorization for extractive uses included in

Proclamation 3443 of December 28, 1961.

 

 

� Lands and interests in lands within the monument not owned or

controlled by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the

monument upon acquisition of title or control thereto by the United

States.

 

 

� The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the

National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to

implement the purposes of this proclamation. The National Park

Service will manage the monument in a manner consistent with

international law.

 

 

� The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a management plan,

including the management of vessels in the monument, within 2 years

that will address any further specific actions necessary to protect

the objects identified above.

 

 

� The enlargement 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 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 a.m., January

19, 2001]

 

 

� NOTE: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on

January 22.