Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, 6145-6150 [2017-01332]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 18, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 6145-6150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01332]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2017 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 6145]]


                Proclamation 9564 of January 12, 2017

                
Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou 
                National Monument

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Through Proclamation 7318 of June 9, 2000, President 
                Bill Clinton established the Cascade-Siskiyou National 
                Monument (monument) to protect the ecological wonders 
                and biological diversity at the interface of the 
                Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou ecoregions. The area, 
                home to an incredible variety of species and habitats, 
                represents a rich mosaic of forests, grasslands, 
                shrublands, and wet meadows. The many rare and endemic 
                plant and animal species found here are a testament to 
                Cascade-Siskiyou's unique ecosystems and biotic 
                communities.

                As President Clinton noted in Proclamation 7318, the 
                ecological integrity of the ecosystems that harbor this 
                diverse array of species is vital to their continued 
                existence. Since 2000, scientific studies of the area 
                have reinforced that the environmental processes 
                supporting the biodiversity of the monument require 
                habitat connectivity corridors for species migration 
                and dispersal. Additionally, they require a range of 
                habitats that can be resistant and resilient to large-
                scale disturbance such as fire, insects and disease, 
                invasive species, drought, or floods, events likely to 
                be exacerbated by climate change. Expanding the 
                monument to include Horseshoe Ranch, the Jenny Creek 
                watershed, the Grizzly Peak area, Lost Lake, the Rogue 
                Valley foothills, the Southern Cascades area, and the 
                area surrounding Surveyor Mountain will create a 
                Cascade-Siskiyou landscape that provides vital habitat 
                connectivity, watershed protection, and landscape-scale 
                resilience for the area's critically important natural 
                resources. Such an expansion will bolster protection of 
                the resources within the original boundaries of the 
                monument and will also protect the important biological 
                and historic resources within the expansion area.

                The ancient Siskiyou and Klamath Mountains meet the 
                volcanic Cascade Mountains near the border of 
                California and Oregon, creating an intersection of 
                three ecoregions in Jackson and Klamath Counties in 
                Oregon and Siskiyou County in California. Towering rock 
                peaks covered in alpine forests rise above mixed 
                woodlands, open glades, dense chaparral, meadows filled 
                with stunning wildflowers, and swiftly-flowing streams.

                Native American occupancy of this remarkably diverse 
                landscape dates back thousands of years, and Euro-
                American settlers also passed through the expansion 
                area. The Applegate Trail, a branch of the California 
                National Historic Trail, passes through both the 
                existing monument and the expansion area following old 
                routes used by trappers and miners, who themselves made 
                use of trails developed by Native Americans. Today, 
                visitors to the Applegate Trail can walk paths worn by 
                wagon trains of settlers seeking a new life in the 
                west. The trail, a less hazardous alternative to the 
                Oregon Trail, began to see regular wagon traffic in 
                1846 and helped thousands of settlers traverse the area 
                more safely on their way north to the Willamette Valley 
                or south to California in search of gold--one of the 
                largest mass migrations in American history. Soon 
                thereafter, early ranchers, loggers, and homesteaders 
                began to occupy the area, leaving traces of their 
                presence,

[[Page 6146]]

                which provide potential for future research into the 
                era of westward expansion in southwestern Oregon. A 
                historic ranch can be seen in the Horseshoe Ranch 
                Wildlife Area, in the northernmost reaches of 
                California.

                The Cascade-Siskiyou landscape is formed by the 
                convergence of the Klamath, the Siskiyou, and the 
                Cascade mountain ranges. The Siskiyou Mountains, which 
                contain Oregon's oldest rocks dating to 425 million 
                years, have an east-west orientation that connects the 
                newer Cascade Mountains with the ancient Klamath 
                Mountains. The tectonic action that formed the Klamath 
                and Siskiyou Mountains occurred over 130 million years 
                ago, while the Cascades were formed by more recent 
                volcanism. The Rogue Valley foothills contain Eocene 
                and Miocene formations of black andesite lava along 
                with younger High Cascade olivine basalt. In the 
                Grizzly Peak area, the 25 million-year geologic history 
                includes basaltic lava flows known as the Roxy 
                Formation, along with the formation of a large strato-
                volcano, Mount Grizzly. Old Baldy, another extinct 
                volcanic cone, rises above the surrounding forest in 
                the far northeast of the expansion area.

                Cascade-Siskiyou's biodiversity, which provides habitat 
                for a dazzling array of species, is internationally 
                recognized and has been studied extensively by 
                ecologists, evolutionary biologists, botanists, 
                entomologists, and wildlife biologists. Ranging from 
                high slopes of Shasta red fir to lower elevations with 
                Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, incense cedar, and oak 
                savannas, the topography and elevation gradient of the 
                area has helped create stunningly diverse ecosystems. 
                From ancient and mixed-aged conifer and hardwood 
                forests to chaparral, oak woodlands, wet meadows, 
                shrublands, fens, and open native perennial grasslands, 
                the landscape harbors extraordinarily varied and 
                diverse plant communities. Among these are threatened 
                and endangered plant species and habitat for numerous 
                other rare and endemic species.

                Grizzly Peak and the surrounding Rogue Valley foothills 
                in the northwest part of the expansion area are home to 
                rare populations of plant species such as rock 
                buckwheat, Baker's globemallow, and tall bugbane. More 
                than 275 species of flowering plants, including 
                Siberian spring beauty, bluehead gilia, Detling's 
                silverpuffs, bushy blazingstar, southern Oregon 
                buttercup, Oregon geranium, mountain lady slipper, Egg 
                Lake monkeyflower, green-flowered ginger, and Coronis 
                fritillary can be found here. Ferns such as the fragile 
                fern, lace fern, and western sword fern contribute to 
                the lush green landscape.

                Ancient sugar pine and ponderosa pine thrive in the 
                Lost Lake Research Natural Area in the north, along 
                with white fir and Douglas fir, with patches of Oregon 
                white oak and California black oak. Occasional giant 
                chinquapin, Pacific yew, and bigleaf maple contribute 
                to the diversity of tree species here. Shrubs such as 
                western serviceberry, oceanspray, Cascade barberry, and 
                birchleaf mountain mahogany grow throughout the area, 
                along with herbaceous species including pale 
                bellflower, broadleaf starflower, pipsissewa, and 
                Alaska oniongrass. Creamy stonecrop, a flowering 
                succulent, thrives on rocky hillsides. Patches of 
                abundant ferns include coffee cliffbrake and arrowleaf 
                sword fern. Moon Prairie contains a late successional 
                stand of Douglas fir and white fir with Pacific yew, 
                ponderosa pine, and sugar pine.

                Old Baldy's high-elevation forests in the northeast 
                include Shasta red fir, mountain hemlock, Pacific 
                silver fir, and western white pine along with Southern 
                Oregon Cascades chaparral. Nearby, Tunnel Creek is a 
                high-altitude lodgepole pine swamp with bog blueberry 
                and numerous sensitive sedge species such as capitate 
                sedge, lesser bladderwort, slender sedge, tomentypnum 
                moss, and Newberry's gentian.

                The eastern portion of the expansion, in the area 
                surrounding Surveyor Mountain, is home to high desert 
                species such as bitterbrush and sagebrush, along with 
                late successional dry coniferous forests containing 
                lodgepole pine, dry currant, and western white pine.

[[Page 6147]]

                The Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area in Siskiyou County, 
                California, offers particularly significant ecological 
                connectivity and integrity. The area contains a broad 
                meadow ecosystem punctuated by Oregon white oak and 
                western juniper woodlands alongside high desert species 
                such as gray rabbitbrush and antelope bitterbrush. The 
                area is also home to the scarlet fritillary, Greene's 
                mariposa lily, Bellinger's meadowfoam, and California's 
                only population of the endangered Gentner's fritillary.

                The incredible biodiversity of plant communities in the 
                expansion is mirrored by equally stunning animal 
                diversity, supported by the wide variety of intact 
                habitats and undisturbed corridors allowing animal 
                migration and movement. Perhaps most notably, the 
                Cascade-Siskiyou landscape, including the Upper Jenny 
                Creek Watershed and the Southern Cascades, provides 
                vitally important habitat connectivity for the 
                threatened northern spotted owl. Other raptors, 
                including the bald eagle, golden eagle, white-tailed 
                kite, peregrine falcon, merlin, great gray owl, sharp-
                shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, osprey, American kestrel, 
                northern goshawk, flammulated owl, and prairie falcon, 
                soar above the meadows, mountains, and forests as they 
                seek their prey.

                Ornithologists and birdwatchers alike come to the 
                Cascade-Siskiyou landscape for the variety of birds 
                found here. Tricolored blackbird, grasshopper sparrow, 
                bufflehead, black swift, Lewis's woodpecker, purple 
                martin, blue grouse, common nighthawk, dusky 
                flycatcher, lazuli bunting, mountain quail, olive-sided 
                flycatcher, Pacific-slope flycatcher, pileated 
                woodpecker, ruffed grouse, rufous hummingbird, varied 
                thrush, Vaux's swift, western meadowlark, western 
                tanager, white-headed woodpecker, and Wilson's warbler 
                are among the many species of terrestrial birds that 
                make their homes in the expansion area. The Oregon 
                vesper sparrow, among the most imperiled bird species 
                in the region, has been documented in the meadows of 
                the upper Jenny Creek Watershed.

                Shore and marsh birds, including the Tule goose, yellow 
                rail, snowy egret, harlequin duck, Franklin's gull, 
                red-necked grebe, sandhill crane, pintail, common 
                goldeneye, bufflehead, greater yellowlegs, and least 
                sandpiper, also inhabit the expansion area's lakes, 
                ponds, and streams.

                Diverse species of mammals, including the black-tailed 
                deer, elk, pygmy rabbit, American pika, and northern 
                flying squirrel, depend upon the extraordinary 
                ecosystems found in the area. Beavers and river otters 
                inhabit the landscape's streams and rivers, while 
                Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area has been identified as a 
                critical big game winter range. Bat species including 
                the pallid bat, Townsend's big-eared bat, and fringed 
                myotis hunt insects beginning at dusk. The expansion 
                area encompasses known habitat for endangered gray 
                wolves, including a portion of the area of known 
                activity for the Keno wolves. Other carnivores such as 
                the Pacific fisher, cougar, American badger, black 
                bear, coyote, and American marten can be seen and 
                studied in the expansion area.

                The landscape also contains many hydrologic features 
                that capture the interest of visitors. Rivers and 
                streams cascade through the mountains, and waterfalls 
                such as Jenny Creek Falls provide aquatic habitat along 
                with scenic beauty. The upper headwaters of the Jenny 
                Creek watershed are vital to the ecological integrity 
                of the watershed as a whole, creating clear cold water 
                that provides essential habitat for fish living at the 
                margin of their environmental tolerances. Fens and 
                wetlands, along with riparian wetlands and wet montane 
                meadows, can be found in the eastern portion of the 
                expansion area. Lost Lake, in the northernmost portion 
                of the expansion area, contains a large lake that 
                serves as Western pond turtle habitat, along with 
                another upstream waterfall.

                The expansion area includes habitat for populations of 
                the endemic Jenny Creek sucker and Jenny Creek redband 
                trout, as well as habitat for the Klamath largescale 
                sucker, the endangered shortnose sucker, and the 
                endangered Lost River sucker. The watershed also 
                contains potential habitat for

[[Page 6148]]

                the threatened coho salmon. Numerous species of aquatic 
                plants grow in the area's streams, lakes, and ponds.

                Amphibians such as black salamander, Pacific giant 
                salamander, foothill yellow-legged frog, Cascade frog, 
                the threatened Oregon spotted frog, and the endemic 
                Siskiyou Mountains salamander thrive here thanks to the 
                connectivity between terrestrial and aquatic habitats. 
                Reptiles found in the expansion area include the 
                western pond turtle, northern alligator lizard, desert 
                striped whipsnake, and northern Pacific rattlesnake.

                The Cascade-Siskiyou landscape's remarkable 
                biodiversity includes the astounding diversity of 
                invertebrates found in the expansion, including 
                freshwater mollusks like the Oregon shoulderband, 
                travelling sideband, modoc rim sideband, Klamath 
                taildropper, chase sideband, Fall Creek pebblesnail, 
                Keene Creek pebblesnail, and Siskiyou hesperian. The 
                area has been identified by evolutionary biologists as 
                a center of endemism and diversity for springsnails, 
                and researchers have discovered four new species of 
                mygalomorph spiders in the expansion. Pollinators such 
                as Franklin's bumblebee, western bumblebee, and 
                butterflies including Johnson's hairstreak, gray blue 
                butterfly, mardon skipper, and Oregon branded skipper 
                are critical to the ecosystems' success. Other insects 
                found here include the Siskiyou short-horned 
                grasshopper and numerous species of caddisfly.

                The Cascade-Siskiyou landscape has long been a focus 
                for scientific studies of ecology, evolutionary 
                biology, wildlife biology, entomology, and botany. The 
                expansion area provides an invaluable resource to 
                scientists and conservationists wishing to research and 
                sustain the functioning of the landscape's ecosystems 
                into the future.

                The expansion area includes numerous objects of 
                scientific or historic interest. This enlargement of 
                the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument will maintain 
                its diverse array of natural and scientific resources 
                and preserve its cultural and historic legacy, ensuring 
                that the scientific and historic 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 these 
                public lands as an enlargement of the boundary of the 
                Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument;

                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 part of the 
                Cascade Siskiyou National 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 hereto and 
                forms a part of this proclamation. These reserved 
                Federal lands and interests in lands encompass 
                approximately 48,000 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.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall change the 
                management of the areas protected under Proclamation 
                7318. Terms used in this proclamation shall have the 
                same meaning as those defined in Proclamation 7318.

                All Federal lands and interests in lands within the 
                boundaries described on the accompanying map are hereby 
                appropriated and withdrawn from

[[Page 6149]]

                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.

                The enlargement of the boundary is subject to valid 
                existing rights. If the Federal Government subsequently 
                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 area being added to the monument through the Bureau 
                of Land Management as a unit of the National Landscape 
                Conservation System, under the same laws and 
                regulations that apply to the rest of the monument, 
                except that the Secretary may issue a travel management 
                plan that authorizes snowmobile and non-motorized 
                mechanized use off of roads in the area being added by 
                this proclamation, so long as such use is consistent 
                with the care and management of the objects identified 
                above.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low-level 
                overflights of military aircraft, the designation of 
                new units of special use airspace, or the use or 
                establishment of military flight training routes over 
                the lands reserved by this proclamation 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 Oregon or 
                the State of California with respect to fish and 
                wildlife management.

                Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke 
                any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; 
                however, the 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 
                twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                first.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

Billing code 3295-F7-P



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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD18JA17.051


[FR Doc. 2017-01332
Filed 1-17-17; 11:15 a.m.]
Billing code 4310-10-C