National Park Service Invites Comments on Draft U.S. World Heritage Tentative List

National Park Service News Release

October 31, 2007

Washington, DC - National Park Service (NPS) staff recommendations and those of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO regarding sites to be included in a new U.S. World Heritage Tentative List are being published today in the Federal Register for public comment. All comments received will be considered by the National Park Service and the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks and the Secretary of the Interior for their use in developing a final U.S. Tentative List to be submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre by February 1, 2008. The NPS staff recommendations, along with recommendations by the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, appear at the end of this release. Public comments will be accepted for 30 days.

In hopes of eventually being placed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List of the world's most significant cultural and natural treasures, the owners or authorized representatives of 35 sites applied for inclusion on the new candidate, or tentative, list of U.S. World Heritage nominations. If chosen for the Tentative List, they will be considered over the coming 10 years for formal nomination by the United States as World Heritage Sites.

Currently, only 851 places around the world, including 20 in the U.S., have this recognition. The preparation of a new Tentative List, led by the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the first such endeavor in 25 years and signals a new era in U.S. engagement with the World Heritage Convention, following on the re-entry of the U.S. to full membership in UNESCO in 2003.

Applications were received from a diverse collection of natural and cultural sites, located in 25 states and one U.S. territory. They included several that were proposed for both natural and cultural values. Their owners include several federal agencies, state governments, private foundations, and numerous private owners. In order to be included in the new Tentative List the proposed sites have had to meet several U.S. prerequisites in addition to appearing to meet the stringent UNESCO nomination criteria. The key U.S. prerequisites are the written agreement of all property owners to the nomination of their property, strong support from stakeholders, including elected officials, and a prior official determination of national significance. (The UNESCO nomination criteria can be found on the National Park Service Office of International Affairs website.)

The applications were solicited under the direction of the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, by the National Park Service's Office of International Affairs (OIA). Applications were due by April 1, 2007. All applications were screened by OIA and Park Service specialists and underwent professional, technical review by independent experts. OIA then compiled the draft Tentative List at the end of August 2007. On September 27 a subcommittee of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, including representatives of relevant federal agencies, reviewed the draft Tentative List. The full Commission approved the subcommittee's report on October 4, in a phone conference in which the public participated.

Since UNESCO requests countries to wait a year before submitting nominations from their tentative lists, the first U.S. World Heritage nominations drawn from the new List could go forward by February 1, 2009 and be considered by the World Heritage Committee in the summer of 2010. 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 at its annual meeting.

The United States was the prime architect of the World Heritage concept and the first country to ratify the World Heritage Convention, in 1973. The National Park Service manages all or parts of 17 of the 20 U.S. World Heritage Sites, including Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, and the Statue of Liberty, and serves as the principal technical agency for the U.S. Government to the Convention. In 2005, the U.S. was elected to a fourth term on the World Heritage Committee and will serve until 2009.

General information about the Tentative List process is posted on the Office of International Affairs website at http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/tentativelist.htm. The National Park Service staff report, including summaries of information on each site referenced in the draft Tentative List being published in this notice, is posted in its entirety on the Internet at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/TLEssayFinal.pdf. If you would like to review the original Applications submitted to the National Park Service for these candidate sites, please go to http://www.nps.gov/oia/NewWebpages/ApplicantsTentativeList.html.

To request a paper copy of the staff report on the draft U.S. World Heritage Tentative List, please contact April Brooks, Office of International Affairs, National Park Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW (0050). Washington DC 20005. E-mail: april_brooks@nps.gov.

For further general information, please contact Stephen Morris, Chief, Office of International Affairs at stephen_morris@nps.gov or 202-354-1800 or Gerry Gaumer in the National Park Service's Office of Public Affairs at gerry_gaumer@nps.gov or 202-208-6843.

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 E-mail to: jonathan_putnam@nps.gov Phone: 202-354-1809. Fax 202-371-1446. All comments will be a matter of public record.

DRAFT U.S. WORLD HERITAGE TENTATIVE LIST: SUMMARY OF NPS STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS*

*Where the U.S. Commission for UNESCO's Recommendations Differ from those of the NPS Staff Report, they are indicated with the following numbers:

1 Recommended for Future Consideration by the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO

2 Recommended to be placed in "Other Properties Considered" by the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO

Natural Properties Recommended for Inclusion (3): Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona White Sands National Monument, New Mexico Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Mixed Property Recommended for Inclusion (1): Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii

Cultural Properties Recommended for Inclusion (13):

Poverty Point State Historic Site, Louisiana Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings, Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Civil Rights Movement Sites, Alabama

Serpent Mound, Ohio San Antonio Franciscan Missions, Texas 1 French Creole Properties of the Mid-Mississippi Valley, Illinois and Missouri 1 Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania 1 Olana (Home of Frederic Church), New York 1 Dayton Aviation Sites, Ohio 1Gamble House, California 1 Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota 2 Mount Vernon, Virginia

Recommended Extensions of World Heritage Cultural Sites (2):

Thomas Jefferson Buildings: Poplar Forest and the Virginia State Capitol, Virginia

1 Moundville Site, Alabama

Cultural Properties Recommended for Future Consideration (4):

Moravian Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Colonial Newport, Rhode Island Shaker Villages, Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Kentucky Underground Railroad Sites (John Parker and John Rankin Houses, Ripley, Ohio)

Other Natural Properties Considered (2): 1 Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, American Samoa 1 Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Massachusetts

Other Cultural Properties Considered (9): Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1, New Mexico Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania SunWatch Village, Ohio Historic Center of Savannah, Georgia New Harmony, Indiana Central of Georgia, Savannah Shed and Terminal Facility, Georgia Gilded Age Newport, Rhode Island Shenandoah-Dives Mill, Colorado Columbia River Highway, Oregon