Notice2023-20719
U.S. Nomination to the World Heritage List: Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
Primary source
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Published
September 25, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
This notice announces the decision to request that the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia prepare a draft nomination for inclusion on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The decision is the result of consultation with the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage and the review of public comments submitted in response to an earlier notice. This notice complies with applicable World Heritage Program regulations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 184 (Monday, September 25, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 184 (Monday, September 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65748-65749]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20719]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-OIA-DTS-36352; PPWODIREI0-PIN00IO15.XI0000]
U.S. Nomination to the World Heritage List: Okefenokee National
Wildlife Refuge
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the decision to request that the
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia prepare a draft
nomination for inclusion on the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The decision is
the result of consultation with the Federal Interagency Panel for World
Heritage and the review of public comments submitted in response to an
earlier notice. This notice complies with applicable World Heritage
Program regulations.
ADDRESSES: To request paper copies of documents discussed in this
notice, contact April Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National
Park Service, 1849 C St. NW, Room 2415, Washington, DC 20240, (202)
354-1808, or sending electronic mail (Email) to: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#93f2e3e1faffccf1e1fcfcf8e0d3fde3e0bdf4fce5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="71100103181d2e13031e1e1a02311f01025f161e07">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Putnam, 202-354-1809.
Information on the U.S. World Heritage program can be found at: <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm">https://www.nps.gov/subjects/internationalcooperation/worldheritage.htm</a>.
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 preservation of natural and
cultural heritage sites of global significance. The World Heritage
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. There are 1,157 sites in 167 countries. Currently there
are 24 World Heritage Sites in the United States. U.S. participation
and the roles of the Department of the Interior (Department) and the
National Park Service (NPS) are authorized by title IV of the Historic
Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 and conducted in accordance with 36
CFR 73--World Heritage Convention. Each State Party to the Convention
maintains a Tentative List, periodically updated, of properties that
are considered suitable for nomination. Only properties on the
Tentative List are eligible to officially prepare nominations that the
Department may consider for submission. Okefenokee National Wildlife
Refuge has been included on the U.S. Tentative List since 1982. Neither
inclusion in the 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.
The Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks (Assistant
Secretary) initiates the process to nominate U.S. sites to the World
Heritage List by publishing a notice in the Federal Register seeking
public comment on which properties on the U.S. Tentative List should be
nominated next by the United States. The first notice (88 FR 37270, as
required by 36 CFR 73.7(c)) was published on June 7, 2023. Following
the publication of the first notice, the Assistant Secretary consults
the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage to review the public
comments submitted and make a recommendation. If the Panel recommends
that a property be nominated and the recommendation is accepted by the
Assistant Secretary, a second notice is issued. This is the second
notice as required by 36 CFR 73.7(f) on the proposed nomination. The
Panel assists the Department in implementing the Convention by making
recommendations on U.S. World Heritage policy, procedures, and
nominations. The Panel is chaired by the Assistant Secretary.
Decision To Request the Preparation of a New U.S. World Heritage
Nomination
The Department received over 10,300 comments in response to the
first notice, many of them regarding Okefenokee
[[Page 65749]]
National Wildlife Refuge, all of which were expressions of support from
the property owners, elected representatives at local, state, and
Federal levels, individuals, institutions, and museums. There were no
comments against nominating any property, including this site.
Additional comments supported the nomination of other sites, in
particular sites associated with Civil Rights Movement history.
The Department considered all comments received as well as the
advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage.
The Department has selected the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
as a proposed U.S. nomination to the World Heritage List. With the
assistance of the Department, including the completion of appropriate
consultation with Native American Tribal governments, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, along with supporting organizations, is encouraged to
develop a complete nomination, in accordance with 36 CFR part 73 and
the nomination format required by the World Heritage Committee.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, consists of more than
400,000 acres embracing 92% of the Okefenokee Swamp, a large
hydrologically intact swamp that is the source of two rivers, one that
flows into the Atlantic and the other into the Gulf of Mexico. The
Refuge also has extensive and essentially undisturbed peat deposits.
Okefenokee is one of the world's largest naturally driven
freshwater ecosystems with a diversity of habitat types, including 21
vegetative types. The Refuge's fauna is also renowned worldwide for its
diversity of amphibians and reptiles, mammals, birds, fishes, and
invertebrates and perhaps as many as 1,000 species of moths. Unlike
many other significant wetland areas, the swamp is the source of rivers
rather than their recipient, as in a delta, and therefore is generally
unaffected by most disturbances to natural hydrology and water flow.
The Refuge's undisturbed peat beds store valuable information on
environmental conditions over the past 5,000 years and are a
significant source of information related to global changes.
Next Steps
A draft World Heritage nomination for Okefenokee National Wildlife
Refuge may now be prepared, in consultation with the National Park
Service's Office of International Affairs. The NPS will coordinate the
review and evaluation of the draft nomination to ensure it meets the
requirements of 36 CFR 73, and will cooperate with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and other partners. Following NPS review of a complete
draft nomination, the Department may submit it to the World Heritage
Centre for technical review by September 30 of any year. The Centre
will then provide comments by November 15 of that year. The Federal
Interagency Panel for World Heritage will review a draft nomination
following receipt of the Centre's comments and recommend to the
Department whether the nomination should be formally submitted for
consideration by the World Heritage Committee. Submittal to the World
Heritage Centre by the Department through the Department of State can
be made by February 1 of any year (prior to 2026, at which time a new
procedure of the World Heritage Committee will take effect); the World
Heritage Committee would then consider the nomination at its annual
meeting in the summer of the following year, after an evaluation by an
official Advisory Body to the Committee.
Authority: 54 U.S.C. 307101; 36 CFR part 73.
Shannon A. Estenoz,
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2023-20719 Filed 9-22-23; 8:45 am]
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