Federal Register, Volume 77 Issue 43 (Monday, March 5, 2012)

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 43 (Monday, March 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13147-13149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5191]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS--OIA--WASO--0112--DTS:9376; 0050-673]

U.S. Nominations to the World Heritage List; 15-Day Notice of
Opportunity for Public Comment

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This is a First Notice for the public to comment on the next
potential U.S. nominations from the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List
to the UNESCO World Heritage List, and on possible additions to the
Tentative List. This notice complies with Sec. 73.7(c) of the World
Heritage Program regulations (36 CFR part 73).
The U.S. World Heritage Tentative List (formerly referred to as the
Indicative Inventory) appears at the end of this notice. The current
Tentative List was transmitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on
January 24, 2008 and includes 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. Any property nominated to the
World Heritage List must have been on the Tentative List for at least a
year prior to its nomination, according to the Operational Guidelines
of the World Heritage Committee.
On Thursday, July 14, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Interior
announced that it had requested the preparation of draft World Heritage
nominations for two properties or groups of properties on the Tentative
List: The Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings and Poverty Point State Historic
Site and National Monument. These draft nominations are currently in
preparation.
The United States Department of the Interior is now considering
whether to initiate the preparation of draft nominations for any of the
remaining properties on the Tentative List to the World Heritage List.
The Department will consider both public comments received during this
comment period and the advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for
World Heritage (the Panel) in making a final decision on any future
nominations. The United States is currently prohibited by law from
providing any funding to UNESCO, including UNESCO and World Heritage
member dues. The Panel will consider possible implications of this
status in making its recommendation on future nominations.
Comments may also be made on suggestions for additions to the
Tentative List, although the Department is not required to make
additions to the List. All previous suggestions made during the public
comment period held from December 14, 2010-January 14, 2011, as well as
those made since that time, are still on file for consideration and
should not be resubmitted at this time.

DATES: Comments will be accepted on or before fifteen days from the
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
If additional site(s) are selected by the Department for
nomination, public notice will be made of the decision. The site's
owner(s) will be responsible, in cooperation with the National Park
Service, for preparing the draft nomination in the nomination Format
required by the World Heritage Committee and for gathering
documentation in support of it. Legal protective measures must be in
place before a property may be nominated. Any such nominations must be
received from the preparers by the National Park Service in
substantially complete draft form by a date on or near July 15, 2013.
Such draft nominations will be reviewed, revisions requested if
necessary, and, if considered by the Department to be technically and

[[Page 13148]]

substantively adequate, as well as in consideration of other relevant
factors, may be provided to the World Heritage Centre for technical
review no later than September 30, 2013. The Centre would then provide
comments by approximately November 15, 2013, with final submittal to
the World Heritage Centre by the Department of the Interior through the
Department of State no later than January 30, 2014. Any nomination
submitted by that date will be considered by the World Heritage
Committee at its meeting in the summer of 2015. The Committee, composed
of representatives of 21 nations elected as the governing body of the
World Heritage Convention, makes the final decisions on which
nominations to accept on the World Heritage List. If a nomination
cannot be completed in accordance with this timeline, work may continue
on the nomination for possible submission to UNESCO in a subsequent
year.

ADDRESSES: Please provide all comments directly to Jonathan Putnam,
Office of International Affairs, National Park Service, 1201 Eye Street
NW., (0050). Washington, DC 20005 or by Email to: jonathan_putnam@nps.gov. Phone: 202-354-1809. Fax 202-371-1446. All comments
will be a matter of public record. Before including an address, phone
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in a
comment, members of the public should be aware that the entire
comment--including personal identifying information--may be made public
at any time. While commenters can request that personal identifying
information be withheld from public review, it may not be possible to
comply with this request.
Comments on whether to nominate any of the properties on the
Tentative List must address:
(i) How well the property(ies) meet the World Heritage nomination
criteria, requirements for authenticity, integrity, legal protection
and management. Information on these criteria and requirements can be
found on the National Park Service Office of International Affairs Web
site http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm
under ``General Information''; and
(ii) The readiness and ability of the property owner(s) to prepare
a satisfactory nomination document according to the timeline outlined
above.
Only the 10 properties or groups of properties included in U.S.
Tentative List and not previously selected to prepare nominations are
eligible to be considered for nomination by the United States to the
World Heritage List at this time. One property on the List,
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, was nominated in 2009 and
listed as a World Heritage Site in 2010. Brief descriptions of the
properties appear on the Web site just noted.
Suggestions for additions to the Tentative List not previously
submitted must address:
(i) How well the property(ies) meet the World Heritage nomination
criteria, requirements for authenticity, integrity, legal protection
and management. Information on these criteria and requirements can be
found on the National Park Service Office of International Affairs Web
site http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm
under ``General Information;'' and
(ii) The U.S. legal prerequisites that include the agreement of all
property owners to the nomination of their property, an official
determination that the property is nationally significant (such as by
designation as a National Historic or National Natural Landmark), and
effective legal protection.
All previous suggestions for the Tentative List made during the
public comment period held from December 14, 2010-January 14, 2011, as
well as those made since that time, are still on file for consideration
and should not be resubmitted at this time.
All public comments will be summarized and provided to Department
of the Interior officials, who will obtain the advice of the Federal
Interagency Panel for World Heritage before making any selection of
properties for World Heritage nomination. The selection may include the
following considerations:
(i) How well the particular type of property (i.e., theme or
region) is represented on the World Heritage List in both the United
States and other nations;
(ii) The balance between cultural and natural properties already on
the List and those under consideration;
(iii) Opportunities that the property affords for public
visitation, interpretation, and education;
(iv) Potential threats to the property's integrity or its current
state of preservation;
(v) Likelihood of being able to complete a satisfactory nomination
according to the timeline described above; and
(vi) Other relevant factors, including the possible implications of
non-payment of U.S. dues to UNESCO or the World Heritage Fund.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809 or April
Brooks, 202-354-1808. General information about U.S. participation in
the World Heritage Program and the process used to develop the
Tentative List is posted on the Office of International Affairs Web
site at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm.
To request a paper copy of the U.S. Tentative List, please contact
April Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service,
1201 Eye Street, NW (0050) Washington DC 20005. Email: april_brooks@nps.gov.
For the World Heritage nomination Format, see the World Heritage
Centre Web site at http://whc.unesco.org/en/nominations.

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 1972, and the U.S. was the first nation to ratify
it. The United States has served several terms on the elected 21-nation
World Heritage Committee, but is not currently on the Committee. There
are 936 sites in 153 of the 188 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 the U.S. Government to the Convention and manages all or parts of
17 of the 21 U.S. World Heritage Sites currently listed, 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. It is a list of
candidate sites which a country intends to consider for nomination
within a given time period. A country cannot nominate a property unless
it has been on its Tentative List for a minimum of a year. Countries
also are limited to nominating no more than

[[Page 13149]]

two sites in any given year. If two are nominated, at least one must be
a natural site or a cultural landscape.
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. laws. 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.
In order to guide the U.S. World Heritage Program effectively and
in a timely manner, 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, the previously referenced
Tentative List of properties that appear to meet the criteria for
nomination. Information on how the Tentative List was developed is
available on the Office of International Affairs Web site at http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm.
In order to be included, a proposed site must meet several U.S.
prerequisites in addition to appearing to meet the stringent World
Heritage criteria of international importance. The U.S. prerequisites
include the written agreement of all property owners to the nomination
of their property, a prior official determination that the property is
nationally important (such as by designation as a National Historic or
National Natural Landmark), and effective legal protection. Support
from stakeholders, including elected officials, is also considered
important.

U.S. World Heritage Tentative List Cultural Sites (9)

Civil Rights Movement Sites, Alabama

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery
Bethel Baptist Church, Birmingham
16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham

Dayton Aviation Sites, Ohio

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, including:

--Huffman Prairie (part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base)
--Wright Cycle Company and Wright & Wright Printing, Dayton
--Wright Hall (housing the Wright Flyer III), Dayton
--Hawthorn Hill, Dayton

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio

Fort Ancient State Memorial, Warren County
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, near Chillicothe

Newark Earthworks State Historic Site, Newark and Heath, including:

--Wright Earthworks
--The Octagon Earthworks
--Great Circle Earthworks

Jefferson (Thomas) Buildings, Virginia

Poplar Forest, Bedford County
Virginia State Capitol, Richmond
(Proposed jointly as an extension to the World Heritage listing of
Monticello and the University of Virginia Historic District)

Mount Vernon, Virginia

Poverty Point National Monument and State Historic Site, Louisiana
[Selected To Prepare a Nomination in 2011; Draft Nomination in
Preparation]

San Antonio Franciscan Missions, Texas

Mission San Antonio de Valero (The Alamo)
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, including:

--Mission Concepcion
--Mission San Jose
--Mission San Juan
--Mission Espada (including Rancho de las Cabras)

Serpent Mound, Ohio

Wright (Frank Lloyd) Buildings [Selected To Prepare a Nomination in
2011; Draft Nomination in Preparation]

Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona
Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, California
Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California
Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois
Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Administration Building and Research
Tower, Racine, Wisconsin
Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin
Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House, Madison, Wisconsin

Natural Sites (4)

Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, American Samoa

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

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

Dated: February 10, 2012.
Rachel Jacobson,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2012-5191 Filed 3-2-12; 8:45 am]
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