Proclamation 4618—Enlarging the Glacier Bay National Monument

Glacier Bay National Monument was created by Presidential Proclamation in 1925 and was enlarged in 1939 and again in 1955. It protects the great tidewater glaciers and a dramatic range of plant communities. The enlargement accomplished by this Proclamation furthers the protection of the array of geological and ecological interests in the area.

This addition includes the northwesterly side of Mount Fairweather, the highest peak in this part of Alaska, and the Grand Plateau Glacier, both significant to students of glaciology.

The Alsek River corridor provides the only pass through the coastal mountain range for 120 miles. This is the route by which large mammals first entered this isolated area and is used by a significant percentage of the Alaska bald eagle population en route to the Klukwan area where they winter.

The addition also protects two botanically significant areas. In the hills flanking Grand Plateau Glacier live the oldest plant communities in southeast Alaska which survive because the area escaped both glaciation and inundation. Also important to the study of ecological succession are the mature aquatic vegetative communities of the pre-neoglacial lakes in the Deception Hills area.

The land withdrawn and reserved by this Proclamation for the protection of the geological, biological, and other phenomena enumerated above supports now, as it has in the past, a unique subsistence culture of the local residents. The continued existence of this culture, which depends on subsistence hunting, and its availability for study, enhances the historic and scientific value of the natural objects protected herein because of the ongoing interaction of the subsistence culture with those objects. Accordingly, the opportunity for local residents to engage in subsistence hunting is a value to be protected and will continue under the administration of the area added to the Glacier Bay National Monument by this Proclamation.

Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to reserve as 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.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there are hereby set apart and reserved for inclusion in the Glacier Bay National Monument all lands, including submerged lands, and waters owned or controlled by the United States within the boundaries of the area depicted as the Enlargement of Glacier Bay National Monument on the map numbered GLBA-90,005 attached to and forming a part of this Proclamation. The area reserved consists of approximately 550,000 acres, and is necessary to ensure the proper care and management of the objects the monument was established to preserve and those added by this Proclamation. Lands, including submerged lands, and waters within these boundaries not owned by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the monument upon acquisition of title thereto by the United States.

All lands, including submerged lands, and all waters within the boundaries of this addition are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from entry, location, selection, sale or other disposition, other than exchange. There is also reserved all water necessary to the proper care and management of those objects protected by this monument and for the proper administration of the monument in accordance with applicable laws.

The establishment of this addition is subject to valid existing rights, including, but not limited to, valid selections under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and under or confirmed in the Alaska Statehood Act (48 U.S.C. Note preceding Section 21 ).

Nothing in this Proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation or appropriation including any withdrawal under Section 17 (d) (1) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, (43 U.S.C. 1616(d) (1)); however, the national monument shall be the dominant reservation. Furthermore, nothing in this Proclamation is intended to modify or revoke the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding dated September 1, 1972, entered into between the State of Alaska and the United States as part of the negotiated settlement of Alaska v. Morton, Civil No. A?48-72 (D. Alaska, Complaint filed April 10, 1972).

The Secretary of the Interior shall promulgate such regulations as are appropriate, including regulation of the opportunity to engage in a subsistence lifestyle by local residents. The Secretary may close this addition, or any portion thereof, to subsistence uses of a particular fish, wildlife or plant population if necessary for reasons of public safety, administration, or to ensure the natural stability or continued viability of such population.

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 1st day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and third.

JIMMY CARTER