Dept of Interior---State Historic Site to be Nominated as a World Heritage Site

Hey Folks,
The following link is from the Dept of Interior.  It's a press release announcing the creation of another International Park---all paid for by the American Tax Payer.  This is why we must fight the federalization of our state lands.  Rob T.....

Press Release
Louisiana’s Poverty Point State Historic Site to be Nominated as a World Heritage Site
 
If Approved, Prehistoric Earthworks Would Be 22nd World Heritage Site in the United States

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the United States is nominating Poverty Point State Historic Site and National Monument in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The nomination document was prepared by the State of Louisiana in consultation with the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs.
The nomination has been submitted through the U.S. Department of State to the offices of the World Heritage Centre in Paris, France.

If approved by the World Heritage Committee, the prehistoric earthworks would join the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, Stonehenge, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef on the list of 962 sites in 157 countries designated as the
most significant cultural and natural sites on the planet. 

“Tucked into the bayous of Louisiana, the Poverty Point earthworks are the remarkable legacy of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer society that existed thousands of years ago,” Salazar said. “Designation as a World Heritage Site not only would be an honor for both Louisiana and the United States but also would be an invitation to domestic and international travelers, helping to accomplish
the goals of President Obama’s National Travel and Tourism Strategy to generate jobs through increased tourism.” 

“We thank the State Department and the State of Louisiana for their partnership on the nomination of Poverty Point to be a World Heritage Site,”  said Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Rachel Jacobson.  “Poverty Point is a significant cultural site that is certainly deserving of recognition on the world stage.”

“Designation as a World Heritage Site is how the international community
shines a light on the places that should be special to all of us,” said National
Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “This nomination of Poverty Point
earthwork is an important way to share what we value as a people, the places
that define our society.”


Located in northeastern Louisiana on a bayou of the Mississippi, Poverty
Point is a vast, integrated complex of earthen monuments, constructed 3,100 –
3,700 years ago. It consists of six enormous, concentric earthen ridges with an
outer diameter of more than a half mile, and several large mounds, including one
of the largest in North America.


This constructed landscape was the largest and most elaborate of its time on
the continent; the particular form of the complex is not duplicated anywhere
else in the world. The site is especially notable because it was built by a
settlement of hunter-gatherers, not an agricultural society.


The UNESCO World Heritage List is part of the World Heritage Convention, an
international treaty signed by 190 countries for natural site conservation and
cultural site preservation first proposed by the United States government in
1972.


After reviews by World Heritage Centre staff and by the International Council
for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), it will be considered for inscription on the
World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee, which is a rotating body of
21 nations elected from among the signatories of the World Heritage Convention.



Inscription as a World Heritage Site does not impose any legal restrictions
on property owners or neighbors of sites, nor does it give the United Nations
any management authority or ownership rights in U.S. World Heritage Sites, which
continue to be subject only to existing federal and local laws. The agreement of
the property owner is required by U.S. law in order for a site in this country
to be nominated to the World Heritage List. 

Two other potential nominations of U.S. sites are now in development: the San
Antonio Franciscan Missions in Texas, and eleven buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright
located throughout the U.S. 

More information on the World Heritage Program can be found at http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm
and http://whc.unesco.org. 
 
The 21 current World Heritage Sites in the U.S, with the year of their
inscription, are: 

 
ALASKA
Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks and Preserves,
with Kluane and Tatshenshini-Alsek National Parks and Reserve in Canada (1979)



ARIZONA
Grand Canyon National Park (1979)


CALIFORNIA
Redwoods State and National Parks (1980)
Yosemite National
Park (1984)


COLORADO
Mesa Verde National Park (1978)


FLORIDA
Everglades National Park (1979)


HAWAII
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (1987)
Papahanaumokuakea Marine
National Monument (2010)


ILLINOIS
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (1982)


KENTUCKY
Mammoth Cave National Park (1991)



MONTANA
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, jointly with Canada
(1995)



NEW YORK / NEW JERSEY
Statue of Liberty National Monument (1984)



NEW MEXICO
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (1995)
Chaco Culture National
Historical Park (1987)
Taos Pueblo (1992)



NORTH CAROLINA / TENNESSEE
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(1983)



PENNSYLVANIA
Independence Hall, part of Independence National Historical
Park (1979)


VIRGINIA
Monticello and the University of Virginia (1987)



WASHINGTON
Olympic National Park (1981)



WYOMING / MONTANA / IDAHO
Yellowstone National Park (1978)



PUERTO RICO
La Fortaleza-San Juan National Historical Site
(1983)