[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 11 (Friday, January 17, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 6727-6736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01443]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 11 / Friday, January 17, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 6727]]
Proclamation 10882 of January 14, 2025
Establishment of the S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla
Highlands National Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
In northern California, the awe-inspiring geological
wonders collectively described here as the
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla Highlands have framed the
homelands of Indigenous communities and cultures for
millennia, and today this area continues to cradle
historic and scientific treasures of our Nation. At
this area's core rests a sleeping giant: the Medicine
Lake Volcano. This massive volcano--one of the two
largest volcanos in the Cascades Volcanic Arc--covers
an expanse roughly 10 times that of Mount St. Helens,
Washington. ``Medicine Lake,'' as labeled in English on
some maps since approximately 1890, is found within the
summit caldera of the volcano for which it is named.
Far earlier and through the present day, however, these
stunning and unusual lands have been known as
``S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla'' in the Ajumawi language,
which translates to ``obsidian place.''
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's obsidian deposits formed by
the volcano have long been important to Indigenous
peoples, as shown by obsidian tools and sites they left
here from their lives and travels. The
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla Highlands area as described here
includes parts of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and
Klamath National Forests, and stretches from Sharp
Mountain, Wild Horse Mountain, and Little Horse Peak in
the west, to Cougar Butte, Glass Mountain, and Border
Mountain in the east, and to encompass the cinder cones
known as Porcupine Butte, Timber Hill, Snag Hill, and
Powder Hill in the south.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla includes portions of the
ancestral homelands of the Pit River (Ajumawi--
Atsugewi) and Modoc Peoples (Mo Wat Knii--Mo Docknii).
For them and many other Indigenous peoples--including
the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana and
individual Tribes that are members of these groups--the
volcanic landscape holds and reflects exceptional power
and is central to their spiritual beliefs and cultural
practices. The Modoc believe Medicine Lake is a place
of healing and have referred to the lake and its banks
as ``Lani'shwi.'' Plants and animals found within
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's habitats include many that are
rare or vulnerable and have long been important to the
Indigenous peoples of the area for food, medicine, and
ceremonies. S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's remarkable
geologic formations and the ecosystems cultivated
within and around them have shaped the history and
cultures of generations of Indigenous peoples.
This area contains evidence of human occupancy dating
back at least 5,000 years. For members of the Pit River
Tribe, S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, as part of the broader
landscape within which it sits, is central to their
creation stories and core to their physical, mental,
spiritual, and cultural health. Their cultural and
spiritual connections to S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla reach
across time and space, linking a web of heritage sites
near and far and underscoring the importance of this
land to the Indigenous people who have lived here
throughout history. They believe that the people and
the land are one in the same, not only that one cannot
be separated from the other, but that one cannot exist
without the other. S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's deep
silence, local plants and animals, unobstructed views
across the landscape, and pure water sources are
necessary to carry out customs, traditions, and
ceremonies of the Indigenous peoples connected to this
area. This area has long provided a place for vision
quests, gathering of medicinal plants, spiritual
training and purification ceremonies, obsidian
[[Page 6728]]
gathering, and religious activities that demand
privacy, solitude, and unobscured access to both day
and night skies. The night skies of
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, where distant galaxies and
stars are visible, are renowned for being among the
darkest in the United States.
Located at the southern reaches of the Modoc Peoples'
ancestral homelands, S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla could be
seen from across Modoc territory. The volcano and
surrounding highlands were central to ceremonial life
of the Modoc, and the area is an enduring place of
historic and cultural significance. The area continues
to serve as a place of gathering, healing, and
spiritual importance for surrounding Indigenous
peoples--including the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz,
Wintu, and Yana. Tribal Nations collaborate in some of
these activities, including ceremonies in and around
Medicine Lake.
At least 85 plant species found in
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla are used by Indigenous peoples
for healing, medicine, food, tools, building materials,
and as ceremonial objects and are considered to have
powerful medicinal and ceremonial uses. For example,
Indigenous people used lichen from this area to dye
materials used to adorn clothes and ornaments.
Evidence of Indigenous peoples can be found throughout
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla. Sites in various parts of the
area exhibit evidence of obsidian quarrying and use by
Indigenous peoples, with some containing unique
assemblages of flaked stone and obsidian tools, waste
materials from tool manufacture, and blades and cutting
implements. Larger obsidian blades, including those
quarried and found in S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, were
highly prized as items of wealth and prestige in
Indigenous cultures throughout the region. Obsidian
quarried within S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla was an important
resource in a broad Indigenous trade network throughout
northern California and the California Coast, and
within southern Oregon. The Indigenous peoples of the
region believe that distinct sources of
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla obsidian--such as obsidian
deposits in the central part of this area--retain
special roles and significance in different uses. In
various locations, evidence of precontact hunting
blinds and groundstone implements also highlight that
Indigenous peoples have lived and hunted across
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla.
In view of the importance of these lands to Indigenous
peoples and the rich cultural resources found here, in
1999, the National Register of Historic Places
determined approximately 33,000 acres of the
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla area centered on Medicine Lake
to be eligible as a Traditional Cultural Property
District. Further, in 2007, the U.S. Forest Service and
the Bureau of Land Management developed the Medicine
Lake Highlands Historic Property Management Program,
which extended this district to encompass approximately
73,000 acres.
Indigenous peoples would likely have witnessed some of
the more recent eruptions of the Medicine Lake
Volcano--which have occurred multiple times in the past
12,500 years and as recently as 950 years ago--
reshaping their sacred lands as they watched, and
creating geologic formations and other objects still
visible today. Future volcanic activity will likely
continue to shape these highlands. As a result of its
dynamic geology and millennia of human occupation,
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla contains numerous objects of
historic and scientific interest--some formed by the
volcano and surrounding ecosystems and others, like
obsidian tools and ceremonial sites, created by
Indigenous peoples--and is integrally connected to the
Indigenous Knowledge amassed by the Tribal Nations and
Indigenous peoples in the area over countless
generations. Some of the objects in this area are
sacred to Tribal Nations, are sensitive, rare, or
vulnerable to vandalism and theft, or are unsafe to
visit. Therefore, revealing their specific names or
locations could pose a danger to the objects or to the
public.
The lava flows emanating off the flanks of Medicine
Lake Volcano extend in every direction for more than 30
miles, through and, in some places, even beyond
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla. Eons of historic geological
activity provide visitors with vast panoramas of stark,
unvegetated lava fields exemplified by the Burnt Lava
Flow Geologic Special Interest Area in the southeast
and the Callahan Flow in the north, and extending into
Lava Beds National Monument along the northeast corner.
The area's concentration of lava flows
[[Page 6729]]
that are fewer than 13,000 years old makes
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla one of the premier places to
view geologically young lava flows in California--and
in the United States.
In addition to volcanologists who have come to
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla to study and understand the
depths of the earth's core, astronauts have also
learned from the area. Between 1965 and 1967, the
area's Pumice Crater--located in the central portion of
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla--was used by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration for Apollo program
astronauts who trained in the collection and
identification of lunar-like geologic features to be
prepared for observation and sampling on the moon.
Multiple groups of astronauts traveled to the Pumice
Crater area, and four of those astronauts flew Apollo
missions, making this crater an important piece of
space exploration history.
Many of the lava flows within S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla
created islands of remnant forests that were elevated
enough to escape the deluge of lava. In the north
central area of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, one such island
is Black Lava Butte, which is dominated by shrubs,
grasses, and old-growth ponderosa pine. Isolated from
historical logging and development, these islands of
forest provide valuable laboratories for future study
of enduring and unaltered ecosystems.
The southern portion of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla is home
to miniature volcanoes known as spatter cones, a well-
preserved and accessible handful of which appear
adjacent to the Giant Crater Lava Flow located in the
south-central portion of the area.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's more than 100 cinder cones--
which are formed when lava cools mid-air and falls as
fragments creating mounds, including Pumice Stone
Mountain, Paint Pot Crater, and Porcupine Butte--are
intact, making them of particular scientific interest.
The Fourmile Hill Tree Molds Geologic Area, situated on
the north flank of the Medicine Lake volcano, contains
dozens of molds formed over 12,000 years ago when
molten lava flowed through a conifer forest leaving
behind casts of the ancient tree trunks. These trace
fossils can help improve scientists' understanding of
the complex geologic history of the region.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla also contains hundreds of cave-
like lava tubes, which were formed over time when
molten basaltic lava flows cooled. Many of these
formations are relatively unexplored, with more likely
yet to be discovered through future scientific inquiry.
The Giant Crater lava tube originates just south of
Medicine Lake, extends southward within
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, and ultimately forms the
longest known lava tube system in the world.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla is nearly devoid of surface
water drainages, but its surface waters only hint at
what is stored underground, as most of the
precipitation that falls in this area filters down
through the porous volcanic rock filling underground
aquifers. These aquifers supply water to spring systems
in northern California--and ultimately to the
Sacramento River to the south and the Lower Klamath and
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges to the north.
The first known Euro-American reports of
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla emerged in 1826-27, with
settler-driven development appearing in the region in
the 1870s. The Tickner Road, constructed in 1871,
served as one of the earliest routes across Siskiyou
County, and remnants of two tracks are still visible in
isolated sections in the northeast portion of the area.
As Euro-Americans settled in the traditional homelands
of the area's Indigenous peoples, many Tribal Nations
suffered dispossession and, often, forced removal. The
brutalities against them by Euro-Americans were
systemic, as evidenced by California's first Governor
declaring a ``war of extermination'' against the
Indigenous peoples, and the California State
Legislature appropriating a half-million dollars to pay
for militia campaigns to kill them. By 1872,
hostilities between the U.S. Army and the Modoc Peoples
exploded into the Modoc War. Tickner Road was used by
the U.S. military during the Modoc War as a supply
route, and its remnants serve as a physical marker of
this war. While battles took place in lava fields
outside and to the north of the area, some Modoc people
sought refuge in S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, where they
successfully avoided relocation after the war and
ultimately
[[Page 6730]]
integrated with the Klamath Tribes. For these members
of the Modoc, their connection to and knowledge of the
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla area proved life-saving. Other
members were less fortunate; following the war several
Modoc leaders were captured and hanged, and the
remaining approximately 150 survivors were forcibly
relocated to Oklahoma. In view of these atrocities and
the resulting loss of homelands, S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla
and the objects it contains remain particularly
significant both to the Modoc and to our Nation's
history.
The area's verdant forests and exceptional geology
together have supported and still illustrate important
parts of the region's history. For example,
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's high quality and accessible
stands of ponderosa pine attracted the development of
railroad logging operations, which came to this area at
the end of the 19th century. Today, within the western
and northern part of this area, visitors can see the
remains of hundreds of miles of railroad grades, relics
of logging camps, maintenance stations, loading and
switchyards, and other traces from the railroad logging
era.
Near the center of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, Little Mt.
Hoffman Lookout Tower provides panoramic views across
and outside of the area to distant Mt. Shasta, Mt.
Lassen, and the Tule Lake Basin. Constructed in the
1920s, and eligible for listing on the National
Register of Historic Places, the tower was actively
used as a wildfire lookout until 1978 and today it
provides a chance to see much of the
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla Highlands from the edge of the
volcano's caldera.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's exceptionally varied habitats
also support high levels of biodiversity, including a
variety of sensitive and endemic species. For example,
the Federally listed northern spotted owl relies on
mature forest habitat, which is scattered throughout
the southern and western portions of
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla. The area also partially
overlaps the historic range of the Federally listed
Franklin's bumblebee, which has one of the most limited
geographic distributions of any bumblebee in the world.
The Townsend's big-eared bat, a State of California
Species of Concern, uses the region's lava tube caves
for roosting. The Swainson's hawk returns from South
America in the spring to breed in the low-elevation
juniper forests, sagebrush, and bitterbrush habitats
found along the northwestern edge of area. In the
northern portion of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, the Three
Sisters Bald Eagle Winter Roost Area provides habitat
for bald eagles, endangered in California. Scattered
aquatic and riparian habitats in the western portion of
the area support two State of California Species of
Special Concern, the Cascades frog and long-toed
salamander. Other species known to be north and south
of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, such as the Federally listed
gray wolf, likely migrate through this area, with
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla providing transitory habitat.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla supports the survival of at
least 16 plants considered threatened, endangered, or
rare in California, including the Federally listed
whitebark pine growing near Garner Mountain in the
western portion of the area, as well as a diverse
community of fungi, with 20 species considered rare or
sparsely distributed. Amongst host trees is the Pacific
fuzzwort, a rare liverwort that is at the southern end
of its habitat in northern California, and the
sugarstick, a parasitic plant associated with the roots
of old-growth conifers. As the climate continues to
warm, high-elevation habitats within
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla will remain critical refugia for
species including the gray-headed pika and the Sierra
Nevada red fox, a State of California threatened
species.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla continues to provide traditional
cultural resources used by Tribal and Indigenous
communities, including food staples like sugar pine
seeds and berries from gooseberry, currant, and
manzanita, as well as plants collected for their
medicinal properties, such as bitter cherry and
Prince's pine. Various plants found in
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla were historically used by
Indigenous peoples for hunting, such as the blue
elderberry whose pithy stem-wood was fashioned into elk
whistles and is still collected today.
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla's soils, formed from lava over
time, are home to several sensitive plants, including
the sensitive talus collomia, the snow fleabane daisy,
little hulsea, and pyrola-leaved buckwheat, all of
which are restricted to fewer than four counties in
Northern California.
[[Page 6731]]
At the lower elevations along the northwestern portion
of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla, western juniper and
ponderosa pine occur above a collection of Great Basin-
type shrubs, including curl-leaf mountain-mahogany,
bitterbrush, rubber rabbitbrush, and big sage. The
leaves, bark, flowers, and seeds from these shrubs were
used by Indigenous peoples to make dye and medicines,
and the dense wood of mountain-mahogany was used to
make digging sticks, fire drills, bows, arrow shafts,
and throwing sticks. Two species uncommon in California
are found in the dry, volcanic soils near the northern
boundary of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla: the tiny annual
doublet and the cushion-like squarestem phlox.
Wet meadows and fens are infrequent within the
landscape, but where they occur, they provide habitat
for wetland plant species such as the California-
endangered Boggs Lake hedge-hyssop and the three-ranked
hump moss. Traditional cultural plants found in these
wetter habitats, including clover, yarrow, mountain
strawberry, Baltic rush, and several grasses, were
historically gathered for food, basket materials, and
for their medicinal properties. Further, sensitive
vernal pools are situated southeast of Medicine Lake,
supporting species including Oregon sedge.
Protection of S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla will conserve the
diverse array of cultural, precontact, historic,
natural, and scientific resources--that the volcano at
its core has shaped--for the benefit of all Americans.
It is vital to preserve this unique geologic landscape
that holds sites and objects of historical,
traditional, cultural, and spiritual significance for
Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples who have gathered
Indigenous Knowledge and practiced and shaped their
cultures linked integrally to this area over countless
generations. In addition to containing numerous objects
of historic and scientific interest as described above,
this area also provides exceptional outdoor
recreational opportunities, including hiking, biking,
snowmobiling, camping, hunting, scenic driving, and
canoeing.
WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code
(the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in
the President's 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 shall be confined
to the smallest area compatible with the proper care
and management of the objects to be protected; and
WHEREAS, S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla has long been
profoundly sacred to Tribal Nations and Indigenous
peoples with ties to these highlands; and
WHEREAS, I find that all the objects identified above,
and objects of the type identified above within the
area described herein, are objects of historic or
scientific interest in need of protection under section
320301 of title 54, United States Code, regardless of
whether they are expressly identified as objects of
historic or scientific interest in the text of this
proclamation; and
WHEREAS, I find that there are threats to the objects
identified in this proclamation, and in the absence of
a reservation under the Antiquities Act, these objects
are not adequately protected by applicable law or
administrative designations, thus making a national
monument designation and reservation necessary to
protect the objects of historic and scientific interest
identified above for current and future generations;
and
WHEREAS, I find that the boundaries of the monument
reserved by this proclamation represent the smallest
area compatible with the proper care and management of
the objects of scientific or historic interest
identified above, as required by the Antiquities Act;
and
WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to ensure the
preservation, restoration, and protection of the
objects of scientific and historic interest identified
above;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by the authority vested
in me by section 320301 of title 54,
[[Page 6732]]
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 S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla Highlands
National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of
protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof all
lands and interests in lands that are 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 224,676 acres. As a result of
the distribution of the objects across the
S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla Highlands, the boundaries
described on the accompanying map are confined to the
smallest area compatible with the proper care and
management of the objects of historic or scientific
interest identified above.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the
boundaries described of the monument are hereby
appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry,
location, selection, sale, or other disposition under
the public land laws or laws applicable to the Forest
Service other than by exchange that furthers the
protective purposes of the monument; from location,
entry, and patent under the mining laws; and from
disposition under all laws relating to mineral and
geothermal leasing.
The establishment of the monument is subject to valid
existing rights. If the Federal Government subsequently
acquires any lands or interests in lands not currently
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 of the type
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.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to
alter the valid existing water rights of any party,
including the United States. This proclamation does not
reserve water as a matter of Federal law.
The Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), through the
Forest Service, shall manage the monument pursuant to
applicable legal authorities, as part of the Modoc,
Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests, and in
accordance with the terms, conditions, and management
direction provided by this proclamation.
For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects
identified above, the Secretary shall prepare, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, within
3 years from the date of this proclamation, a
management plan for the monument, which shall include
provisions for continuing outdoor recreational
opportunities consistent with the proper care and
management of the objects identified above, and shall
promulgate such rules and regulations for the
management of the monument as the Secretary shall deem
appropriate. The Secretary, through the Forest Service,
shall consult with other Federal land management
agencies or agency components in the local area,
including the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and
Wildlife Service, the Department of Defense, and the
National Park Service, in developing the management
plan.
The Secretary shall provide for maximum public
involvement in the development of the management plan,
as well as consultation with federally recognized
Tribal Nations with cultural or historical connections
to the monument, and conferral with State and local
governments. In preparing the management plan, the
Secretary shall take into account, to the maximum
extent practicable, maintaining the undeveloped
character of the lands within the monument; minimizing
impacts from surface-disturbing activities; providing
appropriate and, where consistent with the proper care
and management of the objects of historic or scientific
interest identified above, improving access for
recreation, hunting, fishing, wildfire risk reduction,
wildlife management, and scientific research; and
emphasizing the retention of natural quiet, dark night
skies, and scenic values. In the development and
implementation
[[Page 6733]]
of the management plan, the Secretary shall maximize
opportunities, pursuant to applicable legal
authorities, for shared resources, operational
efficiency, and cooperation, and shall, to the maximum
extent practicable, provide for the careful and full
incorporation of the Indigenous Knowledge and special
expertise of Tribal Nations.
The Secretary shall consider appropriate mechanisms to
provide for temporary closures to the general public of
specific portions of the monument to protect the
privacy of cultural, religious, and gathering
activities by members of Tribal Nations.
The Secretary, through the Forest Service, shall
establish an advisory committee under chapter 10 of
title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the
Federal Advisory Committee Act), to provide advice or
recommendations regarding the development of the
management plan and, as appropriate, management of the
monument. The advisory committee shall consist of a
fair and balanced representation of interested
stakeholders, including State agencies and local
governments; Tribal Nations; recreational users;
conservation organizations; wildlife, hunting and
fishing organizations; the scientific community;
business owners; the forestry community; and the
general public in the region.
In recognition of the value of collaboration with
Tribal Nations for the proper care and management of
the objects identified above, and to ensure that
management of the monument is informed by, integrates,
and reflects Tribal expertise and Indigenous Knowledge
(including in regard to the practice of cultural
burning), as appropriate, the Secretary shall
meaningfully engage with Tribal Nations with cultural
or historic affiliation to the S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla
region including by seeking opportunities for co-
stewardship of the monument.
If Tribal Nations with cultural or historic affiliation
to the S[aacute]tt[iacute]tla region independently
establish a commission or other similar entity
(commission) comprised of elected officers or official
designees from each participating Tribal Nation to
engage in co-stewardship of the monument with the
Federal Government through shared responsibilities or
administration, then the Secretary shall meaningfully
engage the commission in the development, revision, or
amendment of the management plan and the management of
the monument, including by considering and, as
appropriate, integrating the Indigenous Knowledge and
special expertise of the members of the commission in
the planning and management of the monument. The
management plan for the monument shall also set forth
parameters for continued meaningful engagement with the
commission, if established, in the implementation of
the management plan and, as appropriate, incorporate
public education on and interpretation of traditional
place names and the cultural significance of land
within the monument into the management plan. The
Secretary shall explore opportunities to provide
support to the commission, if established, to enable
participation in the planning and management of the
monument.
The Secretary shall also explore entering into
cooperative agreements or contracts, pursuant to the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act,
25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq., or other applicable
authorities, with Tribes or Tribal organizations to
perform administrative or management functions within
the monument and providing technical and financial
assistance to improve the capacity of Tribal Nations to
develop, enter into, and carry out activities under
such cooperative agreements or contracts. The Secretary
also shall explore opportunities for funding agreements
with Tribal Nations relating to the management and
protection of traditional cultural properties and other
culturally significant programming associated with the
monument.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to alter,
modify, abrogate, enlarge, or diminish the rights or
jurisdiction of any Tribal Nation, including off-
reservation reserved rights. The Secretary shall, to
the maximum extent permitted by law and in consultation
with Tribal Nations, ensure the protection of sacred
sites and cultural properties and sites in the monument
[[Page 6734]]
and shall provide access to Tribal members for
traditional cultural, spiritual, and customary uses,
consistent with the American Indian Religious Freedom
Act (42 U.S.C. 1996), the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), Executive Order 13007
of May 24, 1996 (Indian Sacred Sites), and the November
10, 2021, Memorandum of Understanding Regarding
Interagency Coordination and Collaboration for the
Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites. Such uses shall
include but are not limited to, traditional hunting
activities and the traditional collection of waters,
medicines, berries and other vegetation, obsidian and
other mineral products, forest products, and firewood
for ceremonial practices, so long as each use is
carried out consistent with applicable law and in a
manner consistent with the proper care and management
of the objects identified above.
The Secretary shall explore mechanisms, consistent with
applicable law, to enable the protection of Indigenous
Knowledge or other information relating to the nature
and specific location of cultural resources within the
monument and, to the extent practicable, shall explain
to the holders of such knowledge or information any
limitations on the ability to protect such information
from disclosure before it is shared with the
Department.
Consistent with the care and management of the objects
identified above, the Secretary shall manage livestock
grazing as authorized under existing permits and
allotments, and subject to appropriate terms and
conditions in accordance with existing laws and
regulations. The Secretary shall not issue new grazing
permits and shall not designate new allotments on
Federal lands within the monument where livestock
grazing is not currently allowed.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to
preclude the renewal or assignment of, or interfere
with the operation, maintenance, replacement,
modification, upgrade, or access to, existing or
previously approved flood control, utility, pipeline,
and telecommunications sites or facilities; roads or
highway corridors; seismic monitoring facilities; or
water infrastructure, including wildlife water
developments or water district facilities, within the
boundaries of existing or previously approved
authorizations within the monument. Existing or
previously approved flood control, utility, pipeline,
telecommunications, and seismic monitoring facilities,
roads or highway corridors, and water infrastructure,
including wildlife water developments or water district
facilities, may be expanded, and new facilities of such
kind may be constructed, to the extent consistent with
the proper care and management of the objects
identified above and subject to the Secretary's
authorities and other applicable law.
For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects
identified above, the Secretary shall prepare a
transportation plan that designates the roads and
trails on which motorized and non-motorized mechanized
vehicle use will be allowed. The transportation plan
shall include management decisions, including road
closures and travel restrictions, necessary to protect
the objects identified in this proclamation. Except for
emergency purposes and authorized administrative
purposes, motorized vehicle use in the monument may be
permitted only on roads and trails documented as
existing in USDA Forest Service route inventories that
exist as of the date of this proclamation. Any
additional roads or trails designated for motorized
vehicle use by the general public must be designated
only for the purposes of public safety needs or if
necessary for the protection of the objects identified
above.
Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the ability
of the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management,
after consultation with the Forest Service, to provide
access to or to remediate or monitor contaminated lands
within the monument, including to provide ancillary
road and utility access or water control developments,
or access for remediation of geothermal, mine, mill, or
tailing sites, for the restoration of natural
resources, or for the plugging and abandonment of
wells.
Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low-level
overflights of military aircraft, military flight
testing or evaluation, the designation of new units of
special use airspace, or the use or establishment of
military flight training
[[Page 6735]]
routes after appropriate coordination between the
Department of Defense and the Department of
Agriculture.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge
or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of California
with respect to fish and wildlife management, including
hunting and fishing, on the lands reserved by this
proclamation.
The Secretary may carry out vegetative management
treatments within the monument to the extent consistent
with the proper care and management of the objects
identified above, including addressing ecological
restoration, wildlife connectivity or the risk of
wildfire, insect infestation, or disease that would
endanger the objects identified in this proclamation or
imperil public safety. Nothing in this proclamation
shall be deemed to affect the use of prescribed fire
within the monument. The Secretary shall evaluate
opportunities to enter into one or more agreements with
governments, including State, local, and Tribal,
regarding the protection of the objects identified
above during wildland fire prevention and response
efforts.
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 and search
and rescue.
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 the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of
the lands thereof.
If any provision of this proclamation, including its
application to a particular parcel of land, is held to
be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its
application to other parcels of land shall not be
affected thereby.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
ninth.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3395-F4-P
[[Page 6736]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD17JA25.115
[FR Doc. 2025-01443
Filed 1-16-25; 11:15 a.m.]
Billing code 3410-10-C