Establishment of the Fort Monroe National Monument, 68625-68628 [X11-11107]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 215 (Monday, November 7, 2011)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 68625-68628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X11-11107]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 215 / Monday, November 7, 2011 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 68625]]

                Proclamation 8750 of November 1, 2011

                
Establishment of the Fort Monroe National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Known first as ``The Gibraltar of the Chesapeake'' and 
                later as ``Freedom's Fortress,'' Fort Monroe on Old 
                Point Comfort in Virginia has a storied history in the 
                defense of our Nation and the struggle for freedom.

                Fort Monroe, designed by Simon Bernard and built of 
                stone and brick between 1819 and 1834 in part by 
                enslaved labor, is the largest of the Third System of 
                fortifications in the United States. It has been a 
                bastion of defense of the Chesapeake Bay, a stronghold 
                of the Union Army surrounded by the Confederacy, a 
                place of freedom for the enslaved, and the imprisonment 
                site of Chief Blackhawk and the President of the 
                Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. It served as the U.S. 
                Army's Coastal Defense Artillery School during the 19th 
                and 20th centuries, and most recently, as headquarters 
                of the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

                Old Point Comfort in present day Hampton, Virginia, was 
                originally named ``Pointe Comfort'' by Captain John 
                Smith in 1607 when the first English colonists came to 
                America. It was here that the settlers of Jamestown 
                established Fort Algernon in 1609. After Fort 
                Algernon's destruction by fire in 1612, successive 
                English fortifications were built, testifying to the 
                location's continuing strategic value. The first 
                enslaved Africans in England's colonies in America were 
                brought to this peninsula on a ship flying the Dutch 
                flag in 1619, beginning a long ignoble period of 
                slavery in the colonies and, later, this Nation. Two 
                hundred and forty-two years later, Fort Monroe became a 
                place of refuge for those later generations escaping 
                enslavement.

                During the Civil War, Fort Monroe stood as a foremost 
                Union outpost in the midst of the Confederacy and 
                remained under Union Army control during the entire 
                conflict. The Fort was the site of General Benjamin 
                Butler's ``Contraband Decision'' in 1861, which 
                provided a pathway to freedom for thousands of enslaved 
                people during the Civil War and served as a forerunner 
                of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation 
                Proclamation of 1863. Thus, Old Point Comfort marks 
                both the beginning and end of slavery in our Nation. 
                The Fort played critical roles as the springboard for 
                General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign in 
                1862 and as a crucial supply base for the siege of 
                Petersburg by Union forces under General Ulysses S. 
                Grant in 1864 and 1865. After the surrender of the 
                Confederacy, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was 
                transferred to Fort Monroe and remained imprisoned 
                there for 2 years.

                Fort Monroe is the third oldest United States Army post 
                in continuous active service. It was designated a 
                National Historic Landmark in 1960 and it is listed on 
                the National Register of Historic Places. It provides 
                an excellent opportunity for the public to observe and 
                understand Chesapeake Bay and Civil War history. At the 
                northern end of the North Beach area lies the only 
                undeveloped shoreline remaining on Old Point Comfort, 
                providing modern-day visitors a sense of what earlier 
                people saw when they arrived in the New World. The 
                North Beach area also includes coastal defensive 
                batteries, including Batteries DeRussy and Church, 
                which were used from the 19th Century to World War II.

[[Page 68626]]

                WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 
                225, 16 U.S.C. 431) (the ``Antiquities Act''), 
                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 the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment 
                Commission recommended that Fort Monroe cease to be 
                used as an Army installation, and pursuant to the 
                Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 
                (Public Law 101-510), Fort Monroe closed on September 
                15, 2011;

                WHEREAS the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 
                Members of Congress, the Fort Monroe Authority, the 
                City of Hampton, Virginia, and other surrounding 
                counties and cities have expressed support for 
                establishing a unit of the National Park System at Fort 
                Monroe;

                WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve Fort 
                Monroe, portions of Old Point Comfort, and certain 
                lands and buildings necessary for the care and 
                management of the Fort and Point as the Fort Monroe 
                National Monument;

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by section 2 of the Antiquities Act, hereby proclaim 
                that all lands and interests in lands owned or 
                controlled by the Government of the United States 
                within the boundaries described on the accompanying 
                map, which is attached to and forms a part of this 
                proclamation, are hereby set apart and reserved as the 
                Fort Monroe National Monument (monument) for the 
                purpose of protecting the objects identified above. The 
                reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass 
                approximately 325.21 acres, together with appurtenant 
                easements for all necessary purposes, 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, leasing, or other disposition under the public 
                land laws, including withdrawal from location, entry, 
                and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition 
                under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal 
                leasing. Lands and interests in lands within the 
                monument's boundaries not owned or controlled by the 
                United States shall be reserved as part of the monument 
                upon acquisition of ownership or control by the United 
                States.

                The lands and interests in lands within the monument's 
                boundaries, except for the Old Point Comfort 
                Lighthouse, are currently managed by the Secretary of 
                the Army. The Secretaries of the Army and the Interior 
                shall enter into a memorandum of agreement that 
                identifies and assigns the responsibilities of each 
                agency related to such lands and interests in lands, 
                the implementing actions required of each agency, the 
                processes for transferring administrative jurisdiction 
                over such lands and interests in lands to the Secretary 
                of the Interior, and the processes for resolving 
                interagency disputes. After issuance of this 
                proclamation, the Secretary of the Army, in 
                consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
                through the National Park Service, will continue to 
                manage the lands and interests in lands within the 
                monument boundaries, to the extent they remain in the 
                ownership or control of the Government of the United 
                States, until the transfer to the Secretary of the 
                Interior is completed in accordance with the memorandum 
                of agreement. The Secretary of the Interior shall then 
                manage the monument through the National Park Service, 
                pursuant to applicable legal authorities, consistent 
                with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation, 
                and in accordance with the memorandum of agreement.

[[Page 68627]]

                The Old Point Comfort Lighthouse shall continue to be 
                managed by the Secretary of Homeland Security. Not 
                later than 1 year after the date of this proclamation, 
                the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
                Homeland Security shall enter into an interagency 
                agreement that, to the extent requested by the United 
                States Coast Guard, provides for appropriate National 
                Park Service interpretation of the Old Point Comfort 
                Lighthouse for the public and for technical or 
                financial assistance by the National Park Service for 
                building treatment and other preservation activities. 
                Nothing in this proclamation shall limit or interfere 
                with the authority of the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security to use the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse for 
                navigational or national security purposes.

                For the purpose of preserving, restoring, and enhancing 
                the public visitation and appreciation of the monument, 
                the Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a 
                management plan for the monument within 3 years of the 
                date of this proclamation. The management plan will 
                ensure that the monument fulfill the following purposes 
                for the benefit of present and future generations: (1) 
                to preserve historic, natural, and recreational 
                resources; (2) to provide land- and water-based 
                recreational opportunities; and (3) to communicate the 
                historical significance of the monument as described 
                above. The management plan shall, among other 
                provisions, set forth the desired relationship of the 
                monument to other related resources, programs, and 
                organizations in the Hampton area and other locations, 
                provide for maximum public involvement in its 
                development, and identify steps to be taken to provide 
                interpretive opportunities for the entirety of the Fort 
                Monroe National Historic Landmark and related sites in 
                Hampton, Virginia. In developing the management plan, 
                the Secretary of the Interior shall consider the Fort 
                Monroe Reuse Plan, the Fort Monroe Programmatic 
                Agreement dated April 27, 2009 (and any amendments to 
                the agreement), and the Commonwealth of Virginia Fort 
                Monroe Authority Act. Further, to the extent authorized 
                by law, the Secretary of the Interior shall promulgate 
                any additional regulations needed for the proper care 
                and management of the monument.

                The establishment of this monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights. To the extent that the Commonwealth of 
                Virginia holds any reversionary rights in any Federal 
                lands or interests in lands within the boundaries of 
                this monument, those rights are preserved and may 
                operate or be exercised in due course without affecting 
                the existence or designated boundaries of the monument. 
                The Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the 
                Fort Monroe Authority, which would have responsibility 
                for such lands and interests in lands upon their 
                reversion, have agreed in principle to then relinquish 
                to the United States ownership or control of those 
                lands and interests in lands, as stated in the 
                Governor's letter agreement of September 9, 2011. The 
                Secretary of the Interior shall accept the 
                relinquishment of such lands and interests in lands on 
                behalf of the Government of the United States, at which 
                point such lands and interests in lands, reserved 
                pursuant to this proclamation, shall be managed by the 
                Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park 
                Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, 
                consistent with the purposes and provisions of this 
                proclamation, and in accordance with the memorandum of 
                agreement.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the 
                responsibilities of the Department of the Army under 
                applicable environmental laws, including the 
                remediation of hazardous substances or munitions and 
                explosives of concern within the monument boundaries; 
                nor affect the Department of the Army's statutory 
                authority to control public access or statutory 
                responsibility to make other measures for environmental 
                remediation, monitoring, security, safety or emergency 
                preparedness purposes; nor affect any Department of the 
                Army activities on lands not included within the 
                monument.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke 
                any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; 
                however, the monument shall be the dominant 
                reservation.

[[Page 68628]]

                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 
                first day of November in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

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