Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 93.djvu/1502

 93 STAT. 1470

PROCLAMATION 4625—DEC. 1, 1978

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 the national monument, 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

Proclamation 4625

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December 1, 1978

Wrangell-St. Elios National Monument

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation



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An area of southeastern Alaska adjacent to the International Boundary with Canada contains a variety of landforms, including high mountain peaks and steep canyons, with associated geological, ecological, biological, and historical phenomena of great importance. The area includes the greatest assemblage of mountain peaks over 14,500 feet in elevation found in the Nation, the Nation's second highest mountain (Mount St. Elias, at 18,008 feet), several inactive and one active volcano (Mount Wrangell), and an active glacial complex, including some of the largest and longest glaciers in the Nation. The high mountain peaks and glaciers offer an excellent opportunity for glaciological studies. The Malaspina Glacier is listed on the National Registry of Natural Landmarks. Thermal features in the area include the mud cones and hot springs on the western base of Mount Drum. More complete undeveloped river systems exist here than in any other land area in the Nation, with more than 1,000 miles of powerfully running, silt-laden rivers. Biologically unique subspecies of flora and fauna have developed in the Bremner and Chitina River Valleys. As a result of their isolation by virtue of ice fields and the Copper River, these areas are virtually ecological islands in which development of subspecies is largely unaffected by interchange with outside plant and animal species. Wildlife populations include the largest population of wild mountain sheep in North America, moose, mountain goat, and a non-migratory population of caribou. The area is the only part of Alaska where four of the five identifiable forms of bear occur, including the interior grizzly, the coastal brown bear, the black bear, and the rare, blue-color phase of the black bear called glacier bear. Along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska bald eagles and a large and varied shorebird population occur. Cultural development within the area is of interest to archeologists and historians. Three major culture areas converge here, each with distinctive cultural patterns: the North Athapascans, the Pacific Eskimo, and the Chugach. Mining history is evidenced by the Kennecott Copper works, a National Historic Landmark.

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