[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 135 (Thursday, July 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41517-41521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17769]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-OIA-WASO-0711-7740; 0050-673]


Drafting of U.S. Nominations to the World Heritage List

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

ACTION: Second Notice and Request for Comment.

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SUMMARY: This notice constitutes the Second Notice in the Federal 
Register referred to in Sec. 73.7(f) of the World Heritage Program 
regulations (36 CFR Part 73). It sets forth the decision to request 
that draft World Heritage nominations for 11 ``Frank Lloyd Wright 
Buildings'' (in Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, 
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and ``Poverty Point State Historic Site and 
National Monument,'' Louisiana, be prepared, thereby notifying the 
owners and the public of this decision.
    On December 14, 2010 (75 FR 77901), the Department of the Interior 
requested public comment on which property or properties on the U.S. 
World Heritage Tentative List should be nominated next by the United 
States to the World Heritage List. This was the First Notice in the 
Federal Register, pursuant to 36 CFR 73.7(c). The Tentative List 
consists of properties that appear to qualify for World Heritage status 
and which may be considered for nomination by the United States to the 
World Heritage List. The current Tentative List was transmitted to the 
UNESCO World Heritage Centre on January 24, 2008.
    After review of the comments provided by the public and 
consultation with the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage, the 
Department, in accordance with 36 CFR Part 73, has selected ``Frank 
Lloyd Wright Buildings'' and ``Poverty Point State Historic Site and 
National Monument'' from the Tentative List as proposed nominations to 
the World Heritage List. With the assistance of the Department, the 
owners of these sites are encouraged to prepare complete nomination 
documents for the sites in accordance with 36 CFR Part 73 and the 
nomination format required by the World Heritage Committee. A 
discussion of the decision, the nomination process and schedule and a 
summary of the comments as received follows.

Recommendations of the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage

    The Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage assists the 
Department of the Interior in implementing the Convention by making 
recommendations on U.S. World Heritage policy, procedures, and 
nominations. The Panel is chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Fish 
and Wildlife and Parks and includes representatives from various 
Federal Departments and agencies with Federal land management and 
policy-making responsibilities. The Panel made its recommendations to 
the Department of the Interior on the next U.S. World Heritage 
nominations at a meeting on May 9, 2011.
    The Panel agreed by consensus to support the preparation of 
nominations at this time for ``Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings'' and 
``Poverty Point State Historic Site and National Monument.'' The Panel 
reviewed the public suggestions for nominations for other properties at 
this time from the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List but did not 
recommend the preparation of nominations for any additional or 
alternate properties, noting that other good candidates on the 
Tentative List would need more substantial work or assistance before 
they could be expected to develop viable nominations. Panel members 
emphasized the considerable

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work and cost involved in developing nomination documents, and wanted 
to ensure that any nominations drafted have the best possible chance of 
success when they may be considered by the World Heritage Committee.

Decision To Request the Preparation of Two U.S. World Heritage 
Nominations

    The Department considered all comments received during the comment 
period as well as the advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for World 
Heritage in making the decisions to request drafts for two U.S. World 
Heritage nominations.
    Brief descriptions are provided for these potential nominations 
along with a summary of the comments about them that had been received 
and were considered as part of this process. The Department will decide 
whether to nominate these two sites to the World Heritage List based on 
complete draft World Heritage nominations for them. Draft World 
Heritage nominations are requested of the owners for the following 
sites. The titles of the nominations are subject to revision as the 
drafts are developed:

Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings

    Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois (1905-08);
    Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois (1908-10);
    Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, California (1919-21);
    Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin (1911 and later);
    Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania (1936-38);
    Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House, Madison, Wisconsin (1937);
    S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research 
Tower, Racine, Wisconsin (1936-39; 1943-50);
    Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona (1938);
    Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma (1953-56);
    Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York (1956-59);
    Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California (1960-69).
    These eleven properties are among the most iconic, intact, 
representative, innovative, and influential of the more than 400 Frank 
Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) designs that have been erected. They span 
almost sixty years of his efforts to create an ``organic architecture'' 
that attracted widespread international attention and powerfully 
affected the course of modern architecture around the world as well as 
in the United States. The properties include his two long-time homes 
with studios and schools, four residences he designed for others, two 
office complexes, a place of worship, a museum, and a governmental 
complex.
    The Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings were selected to prepare a 
nomination as the candidate on the Tentative List with the strongest 
international recognition of global significance. It would be the first 
U.S. nomination for 20th-century architecture, an area in which the 
United States has had a major impact. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building 
Conservancy is providing strong leadership in the preparation of a 
nomination.
    The Department received 16 comments on this proposal; nine 
expressed general support. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, 
which is coordinating the nomination effort, detailed the work 
completed so far, including organizing the owners of the properties to 
coordinate management, obtaining advice from Wright scholars, and 
drafting nomination material. The Conservancy also requested that the 
Herbert and Katharine Jacobs House in Madison, Wisconsin, Wright's 
first ``Usonian'' house, be added to the group of buildings. Three 
comments stated that this is the strongest candidate on the Tentative 
List and should be the next to be nominated. Two comments suggested 
changing the name of the proposal. Three comments suggested adding 
other Wright buildings to the series (not including the Jacobs House).
    The Department agrees that the Jacobs House, which was initially 
part of the 2007 proposal by the Conservancy, should be part of the 
nomination; the Wisconsin Historical Society now holds a preservation 
covenant on the house. Other than this addition, the Department 
believes that the Conservancy has followed a systematic and defensible 
process to identify the most significant Wright buildings to include, 
and does not support further additions.
    The Department is prepared to reconsider the name of the series to 
ensure that the emphasis of the nomination is on the significance of 
the buildings rather than their architect.

Poverty Point, Louisiana

    This vast complex of earthen structures, constructed 3,100-3,700 
years ago, may be the largest hunter-gatherer settlement that has ever 
existed. Located on a bayou west of the Mississippi River in 
northeastern Louisiana, it is an integrated complex of earthen mounds, 
enormous concentric ridges, and a large plaza. Not only was it the 
largest and most elaborate settlement of its time in North America, it 
was, more significantly, built by a foraging society of hunter-
gatherers, not a settled agricultural people, which makes it without 
parallel in world archeological and ethnographic records, challenging 
anthropology's basic assumptions about hunter-gatherer societies.
    Poverty Point was selected to prepare a World Heritage nomination 
because it is a virtually unique archeological site that is recognized 
internationally. The nomination effort has the strong support of the 
State of Louisiana, which has shown excellent progress in developing 
materials for a nomination. The Department received 10 comments on this 
site; four expressed general support. Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne, 
speaking for the State of Louisiana as the owner of the site, expressed 
strong support for the effort and cited work done in preparation for a 
nomination, including consultation with international experts. Two 
state senators emphasized the site's readiness to prepare a nomination. 
The International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management 
stated that the proposal is well justified and that the Louisiana team 
is capable of preparing a satisfactory nomination. Two comments 
recommended that the site be combined with the Hopewell Ceremonial 
Earthworks and Serpent Mound, the other archeological sites on the 
Tentative List; one of these suggested that the grouping be an 
extension to the Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site in Illinois. The 
Department believes that the archeological sites in Louisiana, Illinois 
and Ohio are sufficiently culturally distinct to merit separate World 
Heritage listing.

DATES: Draft World Heritage nominations for ``Frank Lloyd Wright 
Buildings'' and ``Poverty Point State Historic Site and National 
Monument'' must be prepared and submitted in substantially complete 
draft form to the National Park Service by July 1, 2012 in order for a 
nomination to potentially be submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage 
Centre by the United States by February 1, 2013. (The July 1, 2011 date 
stated in the First Notice is no longer feasible given the time that 
has elapsed since its publication.) The World Heritage nomination 
format may be found at the World Heritage Centre Web site at http://whc.unesco.org/en/nominationform. The National Park Service will 
coordinate the review and evaluation of the draft nominations.
    Submission of interim draft nominations to the World Heritage 
Centre for technical review must be

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made by September 30, 2012. The Centre is to provide comments by 
November 15, 2012. The Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage 
will review draft nominations following receipt of the Centre's 
comments. The Interagency Panel will evaluate the adequacy of the 
nominations, the significance of the properties and whether the 
nominations should be forwarded to the World Heritage Centre to be 
considered for listing. Final submittal to the World Heritage Centre by 
the Department of the Interior through the Department of State is 
required by February 1, 2013, if the properties are to be considered in 
the next cycle of nominations to the World Heritage List. Submittal of 
final nominations must be made no later than that date for the World 
Heritage Committee to be able to consider them at its annual meeting in 
the summer of 2014.
    Protective measures must be in place before a property may be 
nominated as provided for in 36 CFR 73.13. If a nomination cannot be 
completed in accordance with this timeline, work may continue into the 
following year(s) for subsequent submission to UNESCO.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809 or April 
Brooks, 202-354-1808. For complete information about U.S. participation 
in the World Heritage Program, please see the National Park Service 
Office of International Affairs' Web site at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm.
    To request paper copies of documents discussed in this notice, 
please contact April Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National 
Park Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW., (0050) Washington, DC 20005. E-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The World Heritage List is an international list of cultural and 
natural properties nominated by the signatories to the World Heritage 
Convention (1972). The United States was the prime architect of the 
Convention, an international treaty for the preservation of natural and 
cultural heritage sites of global significance proposed by President 
Richard M. Nixon in 1971, and the U.S. was the first nation to ratify 
it. The United States served its fourth term on the World Heritage 
Committee from 2005-2009. The Committee, composed of representatives of 
21 nations periodically elected as the governing body of the World 
Heritage Convention, makes the final decisions on which nominations to 
accept on the World Heritage List at its annual meeting each summer.
    There are 911 sites in 151 of the 187 signatory countries. 
Currently there are 21 World Heritage Sites in the United States.
    U.S. participation and the roles of the Department of the Interior 
and the National Park Service are authorized by Title IV of the 
Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 and conducted in 
accordance with 36 CFR Part 73--World Heritage Convention. The National 
Park Service serves as the principal technical agency for World 
Heritage in the Department of the Interior, which has the lead role for 
the U.S. Government in the implementation of the Convention and manages 
all or parts of 17 of the 21 U.S. World Heritage Sites, including 
Yellowstone National Park, the Everglades, and the Statue of Liberty.
    A Tentative List is a national list of natural and cultural 
properties appearing to meet the World Heritage Committee eligibility 
criteria for nomination to the World Heritage List. A country cannot 
nominate a property unless it has been on its Tentative List for a 
minimum of a year. Countries are limited to nominating no more than two 
sites in any given year.
    Neither inclusion in the Tentative List nor inscription as a World 
Heritage Site imposes legal restrictions on owners or neighbors of 
sites, nor does it give the United Nations any management authority or 
ownership rights in U.S. World Heritage Sites, which continue to be 
subject only to U.S. law. Inclusion in the Tentative List merely 
indicates that the property may be further examined for possible World 
Heritage nomination in the future.
    The World Heritage Committee's Operational Guidelines ask 
participating nations to provide Tentative Lists, which aid in 
evaluating properties for the World Heritage List on a comparative 
international basis and help the Committee to schedule its work over 
the long term. The Guidelines recommend that a nation review its 
Tentative List at least once every decade.
    NPS prepared and submitted (through the Secretary of the Interior 
and the Secretary of State) to the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO on 
January 24, 2008, an updated Tentative List. The Tentative List was 
published in the Federal Register on March 19, 2008. The process for 
developing the U.S. Tentative List is detailed on the NPS Office of 
International Affairs Web site at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm.
    Summary of other Public Comments: On December 14, 2010, the 
Department published a request for comments in the Federal Register 
(Volume 75, Number 239, pages 77901-77903), on which of the sites on 
the Tentative List should be nominated next by the United States. 
Comments were accepted through January 13, 2011, thirty days from the 
date of publication of the notice in the Federal Register. Respondents 
were asked to address the qualifications of the Tentative List 
properties for nomination by the United States to the World Heritage 
List.
    A summary of the comments received appears below organized by site, 
along with the Department's responses as appropriate. Comments on the 
two sites that are proposed for nomination appear in the discussion of 
the decision. The Department received 172 comments and an Internet 
petition with 830 signatures. The comments were also available to the 
Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage and to the Department of 
the Interior officials who have selected the properties that are asked 
to prepare nominations. The full texts of all the comments are 
available upon request.
    Comments were also sought on potential additions to the Tentative 
List. These comments are on file to be considered by the Federal 
Interagency Panel and the Department of the Interior in due course.

Cultural Sites

Civil Rights Movement Sites, Alabama: Dexter Ave. King Memorial Baptist 
Church, Montgomery; Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham; 16th St. Baptist 
Church, Birmingham

    The Department received seven comments: Three expressed general 
support and four recommended that a variety of additional sites be 
added to the grouping to more comprehensively represent the topic.
    The Department agrees that additional sites will need to be added 
before this proposal could be considered for nomination.

Dayton Aviation Sites, Ohio: Wright Cycle Company and Wright & Wright 
Printing; Huffman Prairie Flying Field; Wright Hall; Hawthorn Hill

    The Department received 14 comments: Four expressed general 
support. The other 10 recommended that Wright Brothers National 
Memorial in Kitty Hawk, NC be added to the group; two of these 
commenters also questioned whether Hawthorn Hill should be included in 
the group, and one also questioned the inclusion of the Wright Cycle 
Company Building.
    The Department acknowledges that some of the components of this 
proposal

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may have difficulties in meeting the technical requirements of the 
World Heritage Committee, and that such issues would have to be 
resolved before a nomination could be made. The Wright Brothers 
National Memorial was nominated unsuccessfully in 1981 by the United 
States, and the Department believes that the issues raised at that time 
may still affect a potential nomination.

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio: Fort Ancient State Memorial; 
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park; Newark Earthworks State 
Memorial

    The Department received 95 comments: 71 of them, plus the Internet 
petition with 830 signatures, expressed general support, and four 
provided more substantive expressions of support, including information 
from Federal and State site owners and stewards on work that has begun 
to document the properties and engage in public outreach, including a 
planned symposium. Eleven specifically recommended that the group of 
sites be expanded to include Serpent Mound State Memorial in Ohio, 
which is included as a separate site for nomination on the Tentative 
List. Three recommended that all these sites be combined with Poverty 
Point, the other archeological site on the Tentative List; one of these 
suggested that the grouping be an extension to the Cahokia Mounds World 
Heritage Site in Illinois. One noted concern over the management 
organization and the sufficiency of preservation of the State-owned 
components. Two objected to ``Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks'' as the 
proposed name. The Department believes that the archeological sites in 
Louisiana, Illinois and Ohio are sufficiently culturally distinct to 
merit separate World Heritage listing. It has considered the 
justifications proposed for adding Serpent Mound to the Hopewell 
grouping.
    At this time, it believes that the original formulation would still 
be the most strongly justifiable. If the Ohio properties were to be 
combined, a different justification for Outstanding Universal Value and 
a revision of the World Heritage criteria proposed to be met would have 
to be developed and agreed upon; such an effort, even if deemed viable, 
would require additional time and consultation.

Thomas Jefferson Buildings, Virginia: Poplar Forest, Bedford County; 
State Capitol, Richmond

    The Department received seven comments. Two expressed general 
support. One supported the proposal to extend the existing World 
Heritage listing of Monticello and the University of Virginia as an 
elaboration of the Jeffersonian architectural idea; three of the others 
indicated that Poplar Forest was a weaker component and should be 
reconsidered, and one of these also said that alterations to the State 
Capitol must be addressed carefully. Two comments said that other 
properties on the Tentative List should have priority over an extension 
to an existing listing.
    The Department acknowledges that the issue raised in these comments 
will need to be considered.

Mount Vernon, Virginia

    The Department received four comments. One expressed general 
support. The others made various suggestions for how this site, which 
was unsuccessfully nominated in 2009, might be reformulated for 
possible nomination again in the future.

San Antonio Franciscan Missions, Texas: San Antonio Missions National 
Historical Park and the Alamo (Mission San Antonio)

    The Department received 43 comments: 32 expressed general support; 
this included numerous elected officials. Six comments provided more 
substantive expressions of support, including information from Federal 
and State site owners, the Archbishop of San Antonio and others on work 
that has begun to prepare a nomination and on ongoing research and 
conservation of the sites. The Advisory Council on Historic 
Preservation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation suggested 
that it might best be nominated as an extension to the Mexican World 
Heritage site of the Franciscan Missions of the Sierra Gorda de 
Queretaro. The U.S. chapter of the International Council on Monuments 
and Sites cited some potential weaknesses in the proposal that would 
need to be addressed. One commenter stated that it should be nominated 
at this time, although more justification as to how it fills a gap in 
the World Heritage List is needed; the writer suggested that the 
agricultural and cultural landscape aspects were most significant, 
while the architecture is not exceptional in a global context. Another 
comment suggested that the context needs to address the whole subject 
of Spanish colonial missions in the Americas; that the core and buffer 
zones will be challenging to delineate; and that the acequia system 
should be highlighted.
    The Department believes that the range of comments accurately 
reflects a number of issues that will need to be addressed in a future 
nomination.

Serpent Mound State Memorial, Ohio

    The Department received 67 comments: 53 expressed general support. 
The Executive Director of the Ohio Historical Society wrote as the 
owner of the site that he recommended combining the site with the 
Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks; nine other comments made a similar 
suggestion. Richard D. Shiels, Director of the Newark Earthworks Center 
of the Ohio State University and E. Gordon Gee, President of the 
University, cited public interpretive and outreach work and research 
related to the site, including a planned symposium. Two comments 
recommended that the site be combined with both the Hopewell Ceremonial 
Earthworks and with Poverty Point in Louisiana; one of these suggested 
that the grouping be an extension to the Cahokia Mounds World Heritage 
Site in Illinois.
    The Department believes that the archeological sites in Louisiana, 
Illinois and Ohio are sufficiently culturally distinct to merit 
separate World Heritage listing. It has considered the justifications 
proposed for adding Serpent Mound to the Hopewell grouping. At this 
time, it believes that the original formulation would still be the most 
strongly justifiable. There is insufficient evidence to link Serpent 
Mound to the Hopewell culture sites, including conflicting evidence for 
its construction date. Serpent Mound has a more distinctive identity as 
an effigy mound.
    If the Ohio properties were to be combined, a different 
justification for Outstanding Universal Value and a revision of the 
World Heritage criteria proposed to be met would have to be developed 
and agreed upon; such an effort, even if deemed viable, would require 
additional time and consultation.

Natural Sites

Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary

    The Department received four comments: three expressed general 
support. The Marine Conservation Biology Institute recommended the 
nomination of the Marine Sanctuary to the World Heritage List.
    The Department believes that Fagatele Bay would be more likely to 
receive international support were it nominated as a part of a 
significantly larger nomination, including other areas in American 
Samoa and perhaps elsewhere in the Pacific.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

    The Department received one comment, expressing general support.

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Petrified Forest National Park

    The Department received five comments; four expressed general 
support. Another noted that the site continues to have problems with 
theft of park resources.

White Sands National Monument

    The Department received five comments: four expressed general 
support. Another made specific recommendations for edits and additions 
to the site's Tentative List application.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 470 a-1, a-2, d; 36 CFR Part 73.

    Dated: July 7, 2011.
Rachel Jacobson,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2011-17769 Filed 7-13-11; 8:45 am]
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