Monday, January 22, 2001

 

Volume 37, Issue 3; ISSN: 0511-4187

 

Proclamation 7402--establishment of the Governors Island National Monument

William J Clinton

 

 

� Proclamation 7402-Establishment of the Governors Island National

Monument

 

 

� January 20, 2001

 

 

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.

 

 

� 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 minning 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

purpose 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.

 

 

� William J. Clinton

 

 

� [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January

24, 2001]

 

 

� NOTE: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register

on January 25.