Vermilion Cliffs, Lava Fields Become National Monuments
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
November 10, 2000
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, November 10, 2000 (ENS) - President Bill Clinton, taking full advantage of the waning days of his presidency, signed proclamations Thursday creating the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona and expanding the Craters of the Moon National Monument in central Idaho.
Both actions were recommended by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. President Clinton had asked Babbitt in 1998 to research areas that warranted protection as National Monuments. The Vermilion Cliffs and Craters of the Moon regions were on a list that Babbitt presented to the president in August.
ARIZONA GAINS ANOTHER NATIONAL MONUMENT
Clinton used his executive authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to create the new Vermilion Cliffs monument, which covers 293,000 acres of federal land on the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona.
"Humans have explored and lived on this geologic treasure since the earliest known hunters and gatherers crossed the area 12,000 or more years ago," said Clinton. "California condors, desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion and other mammals roam the canyons and plateaus."
The area is a geologic and historic treasure, Clinton said, covering the Paria Plateau and the Vermilion Cliffs and ranging in elevations from 3,100 to 7,100 feet
The Paria River Canyon winds along the east side of the plateau to the Colorado River. Erosion of the sedimentary rocks in this 2,500 foot deep canyon has produced a variety of geologic objects and associated landscape features such as amphitheaters, arches and massive sandstone walls.
The area contains high densities of ancestral Pueblo Indian sites, including remnants of large and small villages, some with intact standing walls, field houses, trails, granaries, burials and camps. Some of the earliest rock art in the Southwest can be found in the monument.
The monument also contains a unique combination of cold desert flora and warm desert grassland. Twenty species of birds of prey have been documented in the monument, as well as a variety of reptiles and amphibians.
California condors have been reintroduced into the monument, and desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, and other mammals roam the canyons and plateaus. The Paria River supports sensitive native fish, including the flannelmouth sucker and the speckled dace.
The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management will manage the area. Currently permitted livestock grazing, hunting, fishing, bicycling and similar activities will generally not be affected, nor will the designation affect state or private property or other valid existing rights such as water rights or access.
This is the fourth national monument that President Clinton has created in Arizona in the past two years. The others include Grand Canyon-Parashant, Agua Fria and Ironwood National Monuments.
CRATERS OF THE MOON GAINS 661,000 ACRES
President Clinton also used the Antiquities Act to expand more than ten fold the Craters of the Moon National Monument in southern Idaho. The original monument included just 54,440 acres.
"The expansion of the Craters of the Moon monument, originally created by President Coolidge in 1924, adds 661,000 acres of volcanic craters, cones, lava flows, caves and fissures of the 65 mile long Great Rift, a geological feature that is comparable to the great rift zones of Iceland and Hawaii," said Clinton.
Since 1924, the monument has been expanded and boundary adjustments made through four presidential proclamations under the Antiquities Act.
The monument now encompasses the entire Great Rift volcanic zone, the most diverse and geologically recent part of the lava terrain that covers the southern Snake River Plain, a broad plain made up of innumerable basalt lava flows that erupted during the past five million years.
Some of the lava flows diverged around areas of higher ground and rejoined downstream to form isolated islands of older terrain surrounded by new lava. These areas are called "kipukas."
The kipukas provide a window on vegetative communities of the past that have been erased from most of the Snake River Plain. In many instances, the expanse of rugged lava surrounding the small pocket of soils has protected the kipukas from people, animals and even exotic plants.
These kipukas represent some of the last nearly pristine and undisturbed vegetation in the Snake River Plain, including 700 year old juniper trees and relict stands of sagebrush that are essential habitat for sensitive sage grouse populations.
Another scientific value of the expanded monument is the great diversity of volcanic features within a relatively small area.
The Bear Trap lava tube, located between the Craters of the Moon and the Wapi lava fields, is a cave system more than 15 miles long. The lava tube is remarkable for its length and for the number of well preserved lava cave features, such as lava stalactites and curbs, which preserve the patterns of flowing lava.
The volcanic features of Craters of the Moon attract scientists from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, who came in preparation for their mission to the Moon.
The National Park Service will manage the younger exposed lava flows, about 410,000 acres, and the Bureau of Land Management will manage the shrub steppe lands historically used for grazing within the expansion area - about 251,000 acres.
All the acres added to the monument on Thursday were already federal lands.
The entire area will be managed to protect the geological and other features for which the monument has been created. A quarter million people visit the monument each year.
Currently permitted livestock grazing, hunting, fishing, bicycling, and similar activities will generally not be affected, nor will private property within the boundary - about 6,994 acres - or other valid existing rights such as water rights or access.
"This important addition to Craters of the Moon National Monument will protect 700,000 acres of lava flow and increase viability of the rare plant and animal species that live in this incredible place," said Ron Tipton, senior vice president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), an environmental group.
With Thursday's actions, President Clinton has now created 11 national monuments and has expanded two others. The President has protected more land as national monuments in the lower 48 states - more than 4.6 million acres - than any president in history.