Proclamation 9563-Boundary Enlargement of the California Coastal 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 California Coastal National Monument by adding six new coastal areas to the monument that was originally created in 2000 and previously expanded in 2014. The new additions include Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch, Lost Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, Piedras Blancas, and Orange County Rocks and Islands. These areas contain thousands of islands, rocks, reefs, and coastal lands within 12 nautical miles of California's shoreline that are owned or controlled by the federal government.
The expanded areas protect wildlife habitats, historic sites, and lands with cultural significance to Native American tribes. For example, Trinidad Head includes an 1871 lighthouse still in use today and marks the location where the Yurok community first made contact with Spanish ships in 1775. The site remains spiritually significant to the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, the Yurok Tribe, and the Tsurai Ancestral Society. Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch is part of the ancestral home of the Wiyot Tribe and provides habitat for migratory birds and the endangered marbled murrelet.
This proclamation preserves coastal bluffs, tide pools, prairies, and marine environments that provide vital habitat for numerous species and protects places that were critical to native peoples who first lived along the California coast. The expansion adds areas containing significant scientific and historic resources to the existing monument protections.
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Constitutional Analysis
How this action fits (or doesn't) within Article II authority and existing law
This proclamation issues "Proclamation 9563-Boundary Enlargement of the California Coastal National Monument". The stated purpose: "Sculpin, Pacific lamprey, and the threatened Northern California steelhead have also been observed in Guthrie Creek, and both creeks are potential habitat for the threatened coho salmon." 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, 2017 Proclamation 9563—Boundary Enlargement of the California Coastal National Monument January 12, 2017 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Through Proclamation 7264 of January 11, 2000, President Clinton established the California Coastal National Monument (monument) to protect the biological treasures situated on thousands of unappropriated or unreserved islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and pinnacles owned or controlled by the Government of the United States within 12 nautical miles of the shoreline of the State of California. Presidential Proclamation 9089, issued on March 11, 2014, expanded the monument to include the Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands, a landscape of coastal bluffs and shelves, tide pools, onshore dunes, coastal prairies, and riverbanks, and the mouth and estuary of the Garcia River. In addition to providing vital habitat for wildlife, these coastal lands were critical for the native peoples who first lived along the California Coast, and they continue to be treasured by modern generations. Six other spectacular areas along the California Coast contain significant scientific or historic resources that are closely tied to the values of the monument. Like the protections afford