Proclamation 6916.

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110 STAT. 4557 Proclamation 6916 of September 13, 1996 National Farm Safety and Health Week, 1996 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Farming is an occupation, both personally rewarding and vitally important, keeping grocery store shelves stocked with affordable and healthful food products for consumers. American farmers, ranchers, and their families are dedicated to producing crops and livestock that not only feed the American people, but also have become increasingly important to the global economy.

The 2.1 million farms in the United States are predominately operated by farm and ranch families, who work long, grueling hours, exposed to hazards ranging from complicated machinery, to farm chemicals, unpredictable livestock, and variable weather. They also face danger from potentially toxic dusts and gases found in and around farm silos, manure storage facilities, and livestock confinement buildings. Workers must be constantly on guard as they face these hazardous by-products of agricultural work.

Education and training programs, including “hands-on” intensive activities, have created an awareness among farmers and ranchers that personal safety equipment is a good investment for preventing injuries and illnesses related to their work. Linked to these safety initiatives are programs that bring about a higher level of personal health awareness. This helps to reduce the levels of noise-induced hearing loss, sun exposure-related skin cancer, and the occupational respiratory ailments prevalent among agricultural workers in the United States.

On America’s farms, young people are routinely exposed to some of the same risks as adults. Their level of maturity, training, and experience should be considered when assigning chores on the farm. Since many children live on farms, safe play areas should be designated to minimize their exposure to danger. In setting aside this special week each year to focus on the safety and health of farmers, ranchers, and their families, we demonstrate to our Nation’s citizens the importance of a strong agricultural industry as we approach the 21st century.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 15 through September 21, 1996, as National Farm Safety and Health Week. I call upon government agencies, businesses, and professional associations that serve our agricultural sector to strengthen efforts to promote safety and health measures among our Nation’s farm and ranch workers.

I also call upon our Nation to recognize Wednesday, September 18, 1996, as a day set aside during the week to pay special attention to the risks and hazards facing young people on farms and ranches. I would ask agricultural workers to take advantage of educational programs and technical advances that can help them avoid injury and illness. Finally, I call upon the citizens of our Nation to reflect upon the bounty we enjoy thanks to the labor of agricultural 110 STAT. 4558workers across our land.

Join me in renewing our commitment to making their health and safety a national priority. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON 6917 September 17, 1996 Citizenship Day and Constitution Week, 1996 Digitization Vendor By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Proclamation 6917 of September 17, 1996 Citizenship Day and Constitution Week, 1996 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation At a time when many nations around the world are becoming ever more factionalized, the citizens of the United States are blessed with an overarching identity as Americans.

The wisdom of our Nation’s founders, as embodied in our Constitution, still binds us in a united community of purpose and ideals. Our Constitution invites us all to recognize ourselves as Americans first—not to deemphasize our personal or familial roots, but to celebrate the diversity that adds strength to our national character. As Daniel Webster put it more than a century ago, we share “One country, one constitution, one destiny.” This week we celebrate the Constitution of the United States of America.

This remarkably flexible document has stood for more than two centuries as a unique achievement in the world of nations. The more we study and understand the Constitution, the more we grow, mature, and blossom as citizens. This process links us to the Nation’s founders by making us part of their great adventure in democracy. By living our daily lives according to the founders’ principles, we keep alive their vision and demonstrate its truth and wisdom. In order to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, immigrants undertake a formal study of the guiding principles and institutions of American government.

Those who choose to become citizens proudly welcome this responsibility. In fact, all of us would do well to emulate the zeal and interest shown by these newest Americans, who deeply appreciate their bond with the noble tradition of our Constitution. Therefore, on this occasion I call upon all Americans to consider the wonderful blessings of their United States citizenship and to look upon our Constitution and celebrate the freedom and protection that it has always afforded us.

In commemoration of the signing of our Constitution and in recognition of the importance of informed, responsible citizenship, the Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952 (36 U.S.C. 153), designated September 17 as “Citizenship Day,” and by joint resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 159), requested the President to proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as “Constitution Week.” NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 17, 1996, as Citizen110 STAT. 4559ship Day and September 17 through September 23, 1996, as Constitution Week, and urge all Americans to join in observing these occasions with appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON 6918 September 18, 1996 National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 1996 Digitization Vendor By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Proclamation 6918 of September 18, 1996 National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 1996 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Since our country’s birth, Americans have responded to military threats against liberty and democracy, whether at home or in remote areas of the world.

The young men and women of our Armed Forces understand the need to resist oppression, and they have willingly put themselves in harm’s way around the globe to do so. Those young Americans who stand in the defense of freedom are our country’s most precious natural resource. It is particularly painful when these brave Americans are made Prisoners of War, or are classified as Missing in Action. They have earned our deep appreciation and respect for the great sacrifices they have made so that all of us can continue to enjoy the privileges of liberty.

In keeping faith with them, we continue our concerted efforts to determine the fate of all those who are unaccounted for and to bring home the remains of those who have perished. The grief for our prisoners of war and those missing in action is most intense, of course, among their families and loved ones at home, who wait—often for years, and sometimes in vain—for confirmation of their fate. These families display their own courage too, by their endurance in the face of deep anxiety.

Their cause is our cause, and we pledge ourselves to them anew on this special day. On September 20, 1996, the flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia, a black-and-white banner symbolizing all of America’s missing, will be flown over the White House, the United States Capitol, the United States Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System headquarters, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and national cemeteries across the country.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 20, 1996, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all Americans to join me in honoring former American POWs and those Americans still unaccounted for as a result of their service to our great Nation. I also encourage the American people to express their gratitude to the families of these missing Americans for their perseverance through the 110 STAT. 4560many years of waiting.

Finally, I urge Federal, State, and local officials and private organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON 6919 September 18, 1996 National Hispanic Heritage Month, 1996 Digitization Vendor By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Proclamation 6919 of September 18, 1996 National Hispanic Heritage Month, 1996 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation America draws strength from the extraordinary diversity of its people.

Our national character is enhanced by citizens who maintain and honor cultural customs brought from other lands. Hispanics, who have long been part of this tradition, were the earliest European settlers of this great Nation, with the Spanish founding cities in Florida in the 1500’s, and Mexicans establishing homesteads in the Southwest in the 1600’s. Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens in 1917, and other Latinos over the years, including Cubans and Central Americans, came to the United States in search of democracy, freedom, and a better way of life.

Hispanics, who are of all races, distinguish themselves as a community by fostering connections rooted in the Spanish language. Their diverse and vibrant culture includes elements originating in Spain, North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Hispanics share deep family values, recognize their obligations to the less fortunate of our society, protect their children, cherish freedom, and fulfill their patriotic duty to defend their country. Earlier this month, I awarded our Nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Dr.

Antonia Pantoja. Dr. Pantoja has inspired generations of Latino youth to “dare to dream.” Believing that hard work can overcome any obstacle, she went from factory worker to college professor and has dedicated her life to bringing educational and economic opportunities to the Puerto Rican community. Sadly, we recently lost one of our great countrymen. Dr. Hector P. Garcia of Corpus Christi, Texas. A member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he is best remembered for his service to the Latino community, founding the American GI Forum to defend the civil rights of Hispanic veterans and organizing one of the first civil rights marches in the 1940’s.

Many other Hispanic sons and daughters have served our country with distinction, making important contributions in the arts and sciences, the business world, academia, government, agriculture, and the Armed Forces. Helping to preserve the democracy and freedom all Americans enjoy, Hispanics have served in the United States Armed Forces in proportions much larger than their percentage of the population. Since 110 STAT. 4561World War I, our Nation has awarded the Medal of Honor, our highest military honor, to more Latinos than any other ethnic group.

Today, let us honor Hispanics for their example of community and patriotism, and for the richness of their contribution to this great land. NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 15 through October 15, 1996, as National Hispanic Heritage Month. I call upon all government officials, educators, and people of the United States to honor this observance with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities, and encourage all Americans to rededicate themselves to the pursuit of equality.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON 6920 September 18, 1996 Establishment of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Digitization Vendor By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Proclamation 6920 of September 18, 1996 Establishment of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument’s vast and austere landscape embraces a spectacular array of scientific and historic resources.

This high, rugged, and remote region, where bold plateaus and multi-hued cliffs run for distances that defy human perspective, was the last place in the continental United States to be mapped. Even today, this unspoiled natural area remains a frontier, a quality that greatly enhances the monument’s value for scientific study. The monument has a long and dignified human history: it is a place where one can see how nature shapes human endeavors in the American West, where distance and aridity have been pitted against our dreams and courage.

The monument presents exemplary opportunities for geologists, paleontologists, archeologists, historians, and biologists. The monument is a geologic treasure of clearly exposed stratigraphy and structures. The sedimentary rock layers are relatively undeformed and unobscured by vegetation, offering a clear view to understanding the processes of the earth’s formation. A wide variety of formations, some in brilliant colors, have been exposed by millennia of erosion. The monument contains significant portions of a vast geologic stairway, named the Grand Staircase by pioneering geologist Clarence Dutton, which rises 5,500 feet to the rim of Bryce Canyon in an unbroken sequence of great cliffs and plateaus.

The monument includes the rugged canyon country of the upper Paria Canyon system, major components of the White and Vermilion Cliffs and associated benches, and the Kaiparowits Plateau. That Plateau encompasses about 1,600 square miles of sedimentary rock and consists of successive south-to-north ascending plateaus or benches, deeply cut by steep-walled canyons. Nat110 STAT. 4562urally burning coal seams have scorched the tops of the Burning Hills brick-red. Another prominent geological feature of the plateau is the East Kaibab Monocline, known as the Cockscomb.

The monument also includes the spectacular Circle Cliffs and part of the Waterpocket Fold, the inclusion of which completes the protection of this geologic feature begun with the establishment of Capitol Reef National Monument in 1938 (Proclamation No. 2246, 50 Stat. 1856). The monument holds many arches and natural bridges, including the 130-foot-high Escalante Natural Bridge, with a 100 foot span, and Grosvenor Arch, a rare “double arch.” The upper Escalante Canyons, in the northeastern reaches of the monument, are distinctive: in addition to several major arches and natural bridges, vivid geological features are laid bare in narrow, serpentine canyons, where erosion has exposed sandstone and shale deposits in shades of red, maroon, chocolate, tan, gray, and white.

Such diverse objects make the monument outstanding for purposes of geologic study. The monument includes world class paleontological sites. The Circle Cliffs reveal remarkable specimens of petrified wood, such as large unbroken logs exceeding 30 feet in length. The thickness, continuity and broad temporal distribution of the Kaiparowits Plateau’s stratigraphy provide significant opportunities to study the paleontology of the late Cretaceous Era. Extremely significant fossils, including marine and brackish water mollusks, turtles, crocodilians, lizards, dinosaurs, fishes, and mammals, have been recovered from the Dakota, Tropic Shale and Wahweap Formations, and the Tibbet Canyon, Smoky Hollow and John Henry members of the Straight Cliffs Formation.

Within the monument, these formations have produced the only evidence in our hemisphere of terrestrial vertebrate fauna, including mammals, of the Cenomanian-Santonian ages. This sequence of rocks, including the overlaying Wahweap and Kaiparowits formations, contains one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world. Archeological inventories carried out to date show extensive use of places within the monument by ancient Native American cultures.

The area was a contact point for the Anasazi and Fremont cultures, and the evidence of this mingling provides a significant opportunity for archeological study. The cultural resources discovered so far in the monument are outstanding in their variety of cultural affiliation, type and distribution. Hundreds of recorded sites include rock art panels, occupation sites, campsites and granaries. Many more undocumented sites that exist within the monument are of significant scientific and historic value worthy of preservation for future study.

The monument is rich in human history. In addition to occupations by the Anasazi and Fremont cultures, the area has been used by modern tribal groups, including the Southern Paiute and Navajo. John Wesley Powell’s expedition did initial mapping and scientific field work in the area in 1872. Early Mormon pioneers left many historic objects, including trails, inscriptions, ghost towns such as the Old Paria townsite, rock houses, and cowboy line camps, and built and traversed the renowned Hole-in-the-Rock Trail as part of their epic colonization efforts.

Sixty miles of the Trail lie within the monument, as does Dance Hall Rock, used by intrepid Mormon pioneers and now a National Historic Site. 110 STAT. 4563 Spanning five life zones from low-lying desert to coniferous forest, with scarce and scattered water sources, the monument is an outstanding biological resource. Remoteness, limited travel corridors and low visitation have all helped to preserve intact the monument’s important ecological values. The blending of warm and cold desert floras, along with the high number of endemic species, place this area in the heart of perhaps the richest floristic region in the Intermountain West.

It contains an abundance of unique, isolated communities such as hanging gardens, tinajas, and rock crevice, canyon bottom, and dunal pocket communities, which have provided refugia for many ancient plant species for millennia. Geologic uplift with minimal deformation and subsequent downcutting by streams have exposed large expanses of a variety of geologic strata, each with unique physical and chemical characteristics. These strata are the parent material for a spectacular array of unusual and diverse soils that support many different vegetative communities and numerous types of endemic plants and their pollinators.

This presents an extraordinary opportunity to study plant speciation and community dynamics independent of climatic variables. The monument contains an extraordinary number of areas of relict vegetation, many of which have existed since the Pleistocene, where natural processes continue unaltered by man. These include relict grasslands, of which No Mans Mesa is an outstanding example, and pinon-juniper communities containing trees up to 1,400 years old. As witnesses to the past, these relict areas establish a baseline against which to measure changes in community dynamics and biogeochemical cycles in areas impacted by human activity.

Most of the ecological communities contained in the monument have low resistance to, and slow recovery from, disturbance. Fragile cryptobiotic crusts, themselves of significant biological interest, play a critical role throughout the monument, stabilizing the highly erodible desert soils and providing nutrients to plants. An abundance of packrat middens provides insight into the vegetation and climate of the past 25,000 years and furnishes context for studies of evolution and climate change.

The wildlife of the monument is characterized by a diversity of species. The monument varies greatly in elevation and topography and is in a climatic zone where northern and southern habitat species intermingle. Mountain lion, bear, and desert bighorn sheep roam the monument. Over 200 species of birds, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons, are found within the area. Wildlife, including neotropical birds, concentrate around the Paria and Escalante Rivers and other riparian corridors within the monument.

Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431) authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there are hereby set apart and reserved as the Grand Staircase-Escalante Na110 STAT. 4564tional Monument, for the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the United States within the boundaries of the area described on the document entitled “Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument” attached to and forming a part of this proclamation.

The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 1.7 million acres, which is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected. All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of this monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from entry, location, selection, sale, leasing, or other disposition under the public land laws, other than by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the monument.

Lands and interests in lands not owned by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the monument upon acquisition of title thereto by the United States. The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing rights. Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to diminish the responsibility and authority of the State of Utah for management of fish and wildlife, including regulation of hunting and fishing, on Federal lands within the monument. Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to affect existing permits or leases for, or levels of, livestock grazing on Federal lands within the monument; existing grazing uses shall continue to be governed by applicable laws and regulations other than this proclamation.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national monument shall be the dominant reservation. The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the Bureau of Land Management, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes of this proclamation. The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare, within 3 years of this date, a management plan for this monument, and shall promulgate such regulations for its management as he deems appropriate.

This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law. I direct the Secretary to address in the management plan the extent to which water is necessary for the proper care and management of the objects of this monument and the extent to which further action may be necessary pursuant to Federal or State law to assure the availability of water. 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 eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON 110 STAT. 4565 6921 September 20, 1996 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, 1996 Digitization Vendor By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Proclamation 6921 of September 20, 1996 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, 1996 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Since the Reconstruction period, when 24 private black colleges were founded within 10 years, our Nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played a central role in providing access to higher education for many Americans.

Growing steadily after this early burst, HBCUs fought a hard struggle for survival over many decades, 110 STAT. 4566ultimately proving themselves to be not only factories of learning, but also bastions of the core American ideals of freedom, diversity, and enterprise. Today, more than 100 HBCUs throughout our country serve a unique role in educating African Americans. Although as a group they make up only 3 percent of American institutions of higher learning, they award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees—and a major proportion of the graduate degrees—earned by African Americans each year.

Their alumni rolls include scores of leaders in fields ranging from law to the sciences, and from the arts to medicine. Often working with limited resources, these institutions have earned a reputation for achieving “the most with the least” public dollars—consistently keeping tuition costs affordable, for example, or accepting higher numbers of students who need special educational or financial assistance. Our Historically Black Colleges and Universities are an enduring beacon of hope offering thousands of our citizens a critical opportunity to achieve their full potential.

HBCUs give these students not only access to a quality education, but also a supportive environment in which to learn and positive role models whose lives they can strive to emulate. In addition, these institutions contribute to the pluralism of American education, giving students a broader choice. Ultimately, they also help instill and preserve the African American cultural heritage, in the process educating all Americans to the richness of the Black experience. The future of HBCUs is as bright as their past, and they are busy developing ways to meet the challenges of a new century: special outreach initiatives designed to spread their wealth of resources into the communities that have grown up around them; cutting-edge projects in science and technology involving corporate and governmental partnerships; and international educational efforts spanning the entire globe.

They will continue at the creative forefront of American education, offering the tools and skills necessary to prepare students for today’s competitive and technological society. In this coming week, let us honor the contributions—past and present—of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and let us treasure forever the rich resource they provide to our Nation: a proud tradition of well-educated Americans, eager to make this a better world for all of us. NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J.

CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 22 through September 28, 1996, as National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week. I call upon the people of the United States, including government officials, educators, and administrators, to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities honoring America’s black colleges and universities, and their graduates.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first. WILLIAM J. CLINTON 6922 September 27, 1996 To Extend Nondiscriminatory Treatment (Most-Favored-Nation Treatment) to the Products of Bulgaria Digitization Vendor By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

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