Proclamation 9559-Establishment of the Gold Butte National Monument
Issued 2016-12-28 by Barack Obama
Plain-English Overview
AI-generated summary explaining what this action does, who it affects, and why it matters
On December 28, 2016, President Obama issued a proclamation establishing the Gold Butte National Monument in southeast Nevada. This action designated a remote desert area containing red sandstone formations, canyons, and mountains as a protected national monument. The area includes rock art sites, ancient rock shelters, evidence of human habitation dating back 12,000 years, historic remnants from mining and ranching activities, and habitat for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise.
The proclamation affects a landscape that has been used by Native Americans for thousands of years and retains spiritual and cultural significance for the Southern Paiute people today. It also contains historic sites from Euro-American settlement, including the Gold Butte mining townsite from the early 1900s, stone corrals, and features built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Archaeological artifacts found throughout the area help scientists understand ancient cultural groups and trade patterns.
This proclamation carries legal force when based on specific authority delegated by Congress. Presidents have issued proclamations since George Washington, and they can be either ceremonial expressions or substantive exercises of delegated powers. The legal weight of this particular proclamation depends on the statutory authority it invokes—without congressional backing, it would be merely an expression of policy, but with proper statutory authority, it can create enforceable protections for the designated area.
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Constitutional Analysis
How this action fits (or doesn't) within Article II authority and existing law
This proclamation issues "Proclamation 9559-Establishment of the Gold Butte National Monument". The stated purpose: "Canyons and intricate rock formations are a stunning backdrop to the area's famously beautiful rock art, and the desert provides critical habitat for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise." Presidents have issued proclamations since George Washington, and they carry the force of law when grounded in specific statutory authority delegated by Congress. Proclamations can be ceremonial (expressing national sentiment) or substantive (exercising delegated trade, immigration, or emergency powers).
The legal weight of this proclamation depends on the specific statutory authority it invokes. Without statutory backing, a proclamation is merely an expression of executive policy with no binding legal effect on citizens. With statutory backing, it can create enforceable rules — but those rules must stay within the scope of what Congress authorized.
Official Summary
Administration of Barack Obama, 2016 Proclamation 9559—Establishment of the Gold Butte National Monument December 28, 2016 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation In southeast Nevada lies a landscape of contrast and transition, where dramatically chiseled red sandstone, twisting canyons, and tree-clad mountains punctuate flat stretches of the Mojave Desert. This remote and rugged desert landscape is known as Gold Butte. The Gold Butte area contains an extraordinary variety of diverse and irreplaceable scientific, historic, and prehistoric resources, including vital plant and wildlife habitat, significant geological formations, rare fossils, important sites from the history of Native Americans, and remnants of our Western mining and ranching heritage. The landscape reveals a story of thousands of years of human interaction with this harsh environment and provides a rare glimpse into the lives of Nevada's first inhabitants, the rich and varied indigenous cultures that followed, and the eventual arrival of Euro-American settlers. Canyons and intricate rock formations are a stunning backdrop to the area's famously beautiful rock art, and the desert provides critical habitat for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise. Gold