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]
