Establishment of the Mojave Trails National Monument, 8371-8377 [2016-03544]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 32 (Thursday, February 18, 2016)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8371-8377]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03544]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 32 / Thursday, February 18, 2016 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 8371]]


                Proclamation 9395 of February 12, 2016

                
Establishment of the Mojave Trails National 
                Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The Mojave Trails area of southern California is a 
                stunning mosaic of rugged mountain ranges, ancient lava 
                flows, and spectacular sand dunes. It is a landscape 
                defined by scarcity and shaped by travel. The area 
                exemplifies the remarkable ecology of the Mojave 
                Desert, where the hearty insistence of life is 
                scratched out from unrelenting heat and dryness. This 
                punishing environment has also forged the unique human 
                history of the area, from ancient settlements uprooted 
                by a changing climate to the armies of General George 
                S. Patton, Jr., as they trained for battle in North 
                Africa. With historic American trading routes, trails 
                followed by Spanish explorers, a transcontinental rail 
                line, and the Nation's most famous highway, the Mojave 
                Trails area tells the American story of exploration, 
                migration, and commerce. The Mojave Trails area is an 
                invaluable treasure and will continue to serve as an 
                irreplaceable national resource for geologists, 
                ecologists, archaeologists, and historians for 
                generations to come.

                The Mojave Trails area has been a focus of geological 
                research for decades. This unique landscape contains a 
                stunning diversity of lava flows, mountains, playas, 
                sand dunes, bajadas, washes, and other features. The 
                area contains a number of significant sand dune 
                features, most notably the stunning Cadiz Dunes, which 
                have been extensively studied. The mountains of the 
                Mojave Trails area include several significant 
                formations, and seismologists have studied this area 
                for insight into faulting, tectonics, and magmatism. A 
                number of young volcanoes and their associated lava 
                flows in the area have been heavily studied by 
                volcanologists. Amboy Crater, designated as a National 
                Natural Landmark in 1973, has been the focus of 
                research on a number of volcanic phenomena. The Pisgah 
                Volcano lava flow's vast network of lava tubes 
                constitutes southern California's highest density of 
                caves, and is used by both speleologists and 
                recreational cavers. The area's terrain and geology 
                have provided a surrogate for lunar and Martian 
                landscapes, and many of the robotic and imaging 
                technologies used to better understand volcanism and 
                Aeolian processes have been developed and tested in the 
                Mojave Trails area.

                Outstanding paleontological resources can be found 
                throughout the Mojave Trails area. The Cady Mountains 
                contain important fossil fauna assemblages dating to 
                the Miocene Period. The Marble Mountain Fossil Bed area 
                contains one of the classic Cambrian trilobite fossil 
                sites in the Western United States. Set in the green-
                brown lower Cambrian Latham Shale, the fossil beds also 
                contain the fossilized remains of brachiopods, 
                mollusks, echinoderms, and algal bodies that are of 
                great interest to paleontologists. The southern Bristol 
                Mountains contain Tertiary fossils such as camel 
                tracks, invertebrates, and numerous plants; this fossil 
                history has also been used to understand the climate 
                history of the Mojave Desert. Significant vertebrate 
                fossils and other fossil resources have also been 
                identified in Piute Valley and Cadiz Valley as well as 
                the Ship Mountains, Little Piute Mountains, and 
                Sacramento Mountains.

                The Mojave Trails area has been important for 
                ecological research, including studies on the effects 
                of climate change and land management practices

[[Page 8372]]

                on ecological communities and wildlife. It provides 
                opportunity for further research on ecological 
                connectivity in the Mojave Desert region, as it is 
                among the most ecologically intact areas in southern 
                California. The species that have managed to thrive 
                here are specialists in perseverance and 
                resourcefulness and are remarkable for their ability to 
                withstand the desert extremes. The area's scarce 
                springs and riparian areas such as Afton Canyon, 
                Chuckwalla Spring, Hummingbird Spring, Barrel Spring, 
                and Fenner Spring provide refuges for a wide variety of 
                plants and animals. The complex network of groundwater 
                underlying the Mojave Trails area has been the subject 
                of past and ongoing hydrological study. Underground 
                aquifers feed springs and seeps that are important for 
                sensitive ecosystems and wildlife, though specific 
                connections are not yet well understood.

                Rare plant species such as the scrub lotus, rosy two-
                tone beardtongue, whitemargin beardtongue, Emory's 
                crucifixion-thorn, small-flowered androstephium, white-
                margined penstemon, and Borrego milkvetch rely on the 
                specific habitat types found in the Mojave Trails area. 
                The Piute Valley area in the northeastern part of the 
                Mojave Trails area is home to the northernmost 
                occurrences of smoke trees in the California desert, as 
                well as the Homer Mountain Ocotillo Assemblage. The 
                lowlands and middle elevations are also home to other 
                unique or ecologically significant plants such as the 
                endemic Orocopia Mountains spurge. Numerous cactus 
                species are also found here, including the densest 
                concentration of Bigelow cholla cactus in California. 
                Ongoing research in the Mojave Trails area has 
                identified other plant species that are new to science, 
                many of which have not yet been described.

                Birds including the endangered Least Bell's vireo, 
                southwestern willow flycatcher, and yellow-billed 
                cuckoo depend on this area, as do raptors such as the 
                burrowing owl, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, American 
                kestrel, and prairie falcon. Fragile desert fish 
                species such as the bonytail chub rely on the scarce 
                waters of the desert riparian ecosystems. A wide 
                variety of fascinating native mammal species can be 
                found in the Mojave Trails area, including the kit fox, 
                ringtail, American badger, mountain lion, and bighorn 
                sheep. Reptiles and amphibians, including the Mojave 
                Desert's largest lizard, the chuckwalla, have been 
                extensively studied in the Mojave Trails area. The area 
                contains some of the Mojave Desert's best habitat for 
                the threatened desert tortoise and provides important 
                dispersal corridors for that fragile species. An 
                unusual community of invertebrates associated with lava 
                tubes in the Pisgah area offers an ongoing opportunity 
                for entomological research.

                Humans have lived in and moved through the Mojave 
                Trails area for more than 10,000 years. The 
                archeological record tells of a human existence shaped 
                by a changing climate. During the Paleo-Indian period, 
                now-dry lakes provided fresh water to small groups of 
                nomadic people and the animals they hunted. From around 
                7,000 to 2,000 BC, rising temperatures resulted in a 
                change from wet to dry conditions. Associated 
                ecological changes in the region led to new patterns of 
                subsistence for native peoples. Although people 
                remained closely tied to water sources following the 
                temperature increase, desert inhabitants adjusted their 
                diets to rely more heavily on plants and fish, invented 
                new tools, and expanded the sizes of their social 
                groups. During the Formative Period (2,500 to 1,500 
                BC), dry conditions meant the inhabitants of the Mojave 
                Desert remained in small groups. They relied heavily 
                for their survival on the Mojave River, a name derived 
                from the traditional name for these people, Pipa Aha 
                Macav (``the people by the river''). The Mojave people 
                left their mark on the landscape through petroglyphs, 
                pictographs, old trails, and stone work, some of which 
                can still be found today, especially near springs and 
                rivers and along the shores of now-extinct lakes.

                The Mojave were not the only people to use or pass 
                through this landscape. Ancestors of the Chemehuevi 
                Indian Tribe, a branch of the Southern Paiute, have 
                been persistent occupants of the Mojave Desert for 
                thousands of years.

[[Page 8373]]

                Sacred Chemehuevi trails are often tied to traditional 
                and ceremonial songs. The Salt Song Trail, one of the 
                longest song trails of the Chemehuevi people, passes 
                through the Mojave Trails area near the town of Fenner 
                and the Ward Valley. Natural land patterns form the 
                route of this trail, with specific songs sung at 
                specific wayside locations. Other Native Americans who 
                have lived in or passed through the Mojave Desert 
                include the Shoshone, Serrano, Kawaiisu, and the 
                Paiute. The Ward Valley, located between the Old Woman 
                and Piute Mountains, is sacred to a number of these 
                tribes, as are the Mesquite and Crucero Hills, which 
                contain over 50 archaeological sites including 
                petroglyphs, milling stations, temporary camps, 
                intaglios, lithic scatters, and pottery dating as far 
                back as 4,000 years.

                The Mojave Trails area has been a critical travel 
                corridor for millennia, linking the Pacific Coast to 
                the deserts of the southwest and beyond. The Mojave 
                Indian Trail is the earliest known travel route passing 
                through the Mojave Trails area, used by Native 
                Americans for thousands of years and by early Spanish 
                explorers and traders. In 1829, Mexican explorer 
                Antonio Armijo pioneered the Old Spanish Trail through 
                this area. Evidence of the trail, now designated a 
                National Historic Trail, can still be found at Afton 
                Canyon.

                By the end of the 19th century, transcontinental rail 
                travel had changed the American West in profound ways. 
                In 1882, Southern Pacific constructed a railroad route 
                from Barstow to Needles. In addition to the major rail 
                stops established at Needles and Barstow, several 
                smaller towns and rail stops were established along 
                this stretch, including the alphabetically named Amboy, 
                Bristol, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Fenner, and Goffs. These 
                towns remain, some as inhabited hamlets and others as 
                abandoned ghost towns, and some historical artifacts 
                from the original rail line still exist, including 
                original rail ties and track and later improvements of 
                communications poles, insulators, and wires.

                A modest dirt road--an original trackside component of 
                the railroad project--would later become the most 
                famous highway in America. In 1911, in the infancy of 
                the automobile era, the County of San Bernardino paved 
                the first stretch of that road from Barstow to Needles. 
                The next year, this stretch became part of the National 
                Old Trails Road, which extended more than 3,000 miles 
                from New York, New York, to Los Angeles, California, 
                and connected the American coasts by pavement for the 
                first time. In 1926, the road was officially designated 
                as U.S. Highway 66, a designation soon known around the 
                world as Route 66. During the 1930s, Route 66 became an 
                important route for migrants escaping economic 
                hardships of the Great Depression and droughts in the 
                Central plains. As the national economy rebounded 
                following World War II, Americans took to the highways 
                in unprecedented numbers. The road became an American 
                icon, earning the nickname the ``Main Street of 
                America'' and inspiring popular culture through music, 
                literature, and film.

                The popularity of Route 66, however, hastened its 
                downfall; increasing traffic quickly exceeded its two-
                lane capacity. In 1985, Route 66 was officially 
                decommissioned, leaving behind a powerful albeit 
                fragmented narrative history of America's automobile 
                culture of the first half of the 20th century and its 
                legacy of related commerce and architecture. The Mojave 
                Trails area contains the longest remaining undeveloped 
                stretch of Route 66, offering spectacular and serene 
                desert vistas and a glimpse into what travelers 
                experienced during the peak of the route's popularity 
                in the mid-20th century. Today, the ghost towns along 
                this stretch of Route 66 are a visual legacy of how the 
                automobile shaped the American landscape.

                In addition to its important role in the transportation 
                history of the United States, the Mojave Trails area is 
                a unique resource for understanding one of the most 
                formative periods in American military history. During 
                the height of World War II, the United States military 
                recognized a need to develop a desert training program 
                in order to prepare its troops to fight

[[Page 8374]]

                the tank armies of Nazi Germany in North Africa. Major 
                General George S. Patton, Jr., commander of the I 
                Armored Corps, selected the site of the Desert Training 
                Center in the Mojave Trails area, the largest training 
                area in the world at the time. More than one million 
                troops trained in the area between 1942 and 1944, 
                including at Camp Ibis, Camp Clipper, Camp Iron 
                Mountain, Camp Granite, and Camp Essex. Remnants of 
                these camps can still be found today, including rock-
                lined streets, staging areas, flag circles, altars, 
                tent areas, and even tank tracks on some of the area's 
                hardpan playas.

                The protection of the Mojave Trails area will preserve 
                its cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy and 
                maintain its diverse array of natural and scientific 
                resources, ensuring that the prehistoric, historic, and 
                scientific values of this area remain for the benefit 
                of all Americans.

                WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code 
                (known as 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 Federal Government 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 is in the public interest to preserve the 
                objects of scientific and historic interest on the 
                Mojave Trails lands;

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by the authority vested in me 
                by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, 
                hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are 
                situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or 
                controlled by the Federal Government to be the Mojave 
                Trails National Monument (monument) and, for the 
                purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part 
                thereof all 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. 
                These reserved Federal lands and interests in lands 
                encompass approximately 1.6 million 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.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries of the monument are hereby appropriated and 
                withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, 
                sale, or other disposition under the public land laws, 
                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 or 
                disposal for the limited purpose of providing materials 
                for repairing or maintaining roads and bridges within 
                the monument consistent with care and management of the 
                objects identified above.

                The establishment of the monument is subject to valid 
                existing rights. If the Federal Government acquires any 
                lands or interests in lands not owned or controlled by 
                the Federal Government within the boundaries described 
                on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in 
                lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and 
                objects identified above that are situated upon those 
                lands and interests in lands shall be part of the 
                monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by 
                the Federal Government.

                The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage 
                the monument through the Bureau of Land Management 
                (BLM) as a unit of the National Landscape Conservation 
                System, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to 
                protect the objects identified above.

                For purposes of the care and management of the objects 
                identified above, the Secretary, through the BLM, shall 
                within 3 years of the date of this proclamation prepare 
                and maintain a management plan for the monument

[[Page 8375]]

                and shall provide for maximum public involvement in the 
                development of that plan including, but not limited to, 
                consultation with tribal, State, and local governments.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to 
                preclude the renewal or assignment of, or interfere 
                with the operation or maintenance of, or with the 
                replacement, modification, or upgrade within or 
                adjacent to an existing authorization boundary of, 
                existing flood control, utility, pipeline, or 
                telecommunications facilities that are located within 
                the monument in a manner consistent with the care and 
                management of the objects identified above. Existing 
                flood control, utility, pipeline, or telecommunications 
                facilities located within the monument may be expanded, 
                and new facilities may be constructed within the 
                monument, but only to the extent consistent with the 
                care and management of the objects identified above.

                The Secretary shall work with appropriate State 
                officials to ensure the availability of water 
                resources, including groundwater resources, needed for 
                monument purposes.

                Except for emergency or authorized administrative 
                purposes, motorized vehicle use in the monument shall 
                be permitted only on roads existing as of the date of 
                this proclamation. Non-motorized mechanized vehicle use 
                shall be permitted only on roads and trails designated 
                for their use consistent with the care and management 
                of the objects identified above. The Secretary shall 
                prepare a transportation plan that designates the roads 
                and trails where motorized or non-motorized mechanized 
                vehicle use will be permitted.

                Laws, regulations, and policies followed by the BLM in 
                issuing and administering grazing permits or leases on 
                lands under its jurisdiction, including provisions 
                specific to the California Desert Conservation Area, 
                shall continue to apply with regard to the lands in the 
                monument, consistent with the care and management of 
                the objects identified above.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge 
                or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of 
                California, including its jurisdiction and authority 
                with respect to fish and wildlife management.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low level 
                overflights of military aircraft, the designation of 
                new units of special use airspace, the use or 
                establishment of military flight training routes over 
                the lands reserved by this proclamation, or related 
                military uses, consistent with the care and management 
                of the objects identified above.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall alter the Department 
                of Defense's use of the Restricted Airspace established 
                by the Federal Aviation Administration. Further, 
                nothing in this proclamation shall preclude (i) air or 
                ground access for existing or new electronic tracking 
                and communications; (ii) landing and drop zones; and 
                (iii) readiness and training by the U.S. Armed 
                Services, Joint and Coalition forces, including 
                training using motorized vehicles both on and off road, 
                in accordance with applicable interagency agreements.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to 
                alter the authority or responsibility of any party with 
                respect to emergency response activities within the 
                monument, including wildland fire response.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge 
                or diminish the rights of any Indian tribe. The 
                Secretary shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law 
                and in consultation with Indian tribes, ensure the 
                protection of Indian sacred sites and cultural sites in 
                the monument and provide access to the sites by members 
                of Indian tribes for traditional cultural and customary 
                uses, consistent with the American Indian Religious 
                Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996) and Executive Order 13007 
                of May 24, 1996 (Indian Sacred Sites).

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

[[Page 8376]]

                Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not 
                to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature 
                of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of 
                the lands thereof.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

Billing code 3295-F6-P


[[Page 8377]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD18FE16.001


[FR Doc. 2016-03544
Filed 2-17-16; 11:15 am]
Billing code 4310-10-C