Proclamation 9564-Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
Issued 2017-01-12 by Barack Obama
Plain-English Overview
AI-generated summary explaining what this action does, who it affects, and why it matters
President Obama expanded the boundaries of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, which was originally created by President Clinton in 2000. The expansion adds several areas including Horseshoe Ranch, the Jenny Creek watershed, the Grizzly Peak area, Lost Lake, the Rogue Valley foothills, the Southern Cascades area, and the area surrounding Surveyor Mountain. These areas are located where three different mountain ranges—the Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou—meet near the California-Oregon border.
The expansion protects a landscape that contains forests, grasslands, shrublands, wet meadows, and streams that are home to many rare plant and animal species. Scientific studies since 2000 showed that the wildlife in this area needs connected corridors to migrate and disperse, and needs habitats that can withstand large-scale disturbances like fire, disease, invasive species, drought, and floods. The expanded monument also protects historic resources including the Applegate Trail, a branch of the California National Historic Trail that wagon trains used starting in 1846 as a safer alternative to the Oregon Trail.
This action matters because it creates a larger protected landscape that helps preserve biodiversity and provides watershed protection. It affects federal lands in Jackson and Klamath Counties in Oregon and Siskiyou County in California, protecting both the natural ecosystems and the historical traces left by Native Americans and early settlers who passed through the region.
AI-generated summary for educational purposes
Official Summary
Administration of Barack Obama, 2017 Proclamation 9564—Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument January 12, 2017 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Through Proclamation 7318 of June 9, 2000, President Bill Clinton established the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (monument) to protect the ecological wonders and biological diversity at the interface of the Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou ecoregions. The area, home to an incredible variety of species and habitats, represents a rich mosaic of forests, grasslands, shrublands, and wet meadows. The many rare and endemic plant and animal species found here are a testament to Cascade-Siskiyou's unique ecosystems and biotic communities. As President Clinton noted in Proclamation 7318, the ecological integrity of the ecosystems that harbor this diverse array of species is vital to their continued existence. Since 2000, scientific studies of the area have reinforced that the environmental processes supporting the biodiversity of the monument require habitat connectivity corridors for species migration and dispersal. Additionally, they require a range of habitats that can be resistant and resilient to large-scale disturbance such as fire, insects and disease, invasiv