"I am pleased to be able to take the necessary first step so that these truly significant American natural and cultural properties can be considered for the most prestigious international recognition accorded to properties of global importance.  Each of these sites is important to Americans as well as others around the world."
Secretary of  the Interior Dirk Kempthorne

Printed below is a portion of a Press Release from the Secretary of the Interior:

Office of the Secretary
January 22, 2008

Secretary Kempthorne Selects New U.S. World Heritage Tentative List

   WASHINGTON, DC  -  Secretary of  the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced  his selection of 14 U.S. sites to be included on a new United States World Heritage Tentative List. The 14 properties on the new list will now be eligible to be considered for nomination by the United States to the UNESCO World Heritage List, which recognizes the most significant cultural and natural treasures on the planet.

   "I am pleased to be able to take the necessary first step so that these truly significant American natural and cultural properties can be considered for the most prestigious international recognition accorded to properties of global importance,” Kempthorne said. “Each of these sites is important to Americans as well as others around the world.”

   World Heritage Sites are designated under the World Heritage Convention. The United States was the prime architect of the Convention, an international treaty for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage sites of global significance proposed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972, and was the first nation to ratify it. There are 851 sites in 140 of the 184 signatory countries. Currently there are 20 World Heritage Sites in the United States already listed.

   The new sites announced on the United States World Heritage Tentative List can be considered over the next 10 years for formal nomination by the United States as World Heritage Sites.

   Neither inclusion in the Tentative List nor inscription as a World Heritage  Site imposes legal restrictions on 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 to U.S. law.

   The preparation of a Tentative List is a necessary first step in the process of nominating a site to the World Heritage List, because a country cannot nominate a property unless it has been on its Tentative List for a minimum of a year. Countries also are limited to nominating no more than two sites in any given year.

   The applications were evaluated by National Park Service staff, non-government experts on the World Heritage nomination process, and the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. The public had the opportunity to comment on the proposals for the Tentative List. Nearly all the comments received from Federal, State, and local government executive and legislative officials, and other stakeholders supported the inclusion of sites in their States and communities.

   Because UNESCO asks countries to wait a year before submitting nominations from their tentative lists, the first time that any U.S. World Heritage nominations drawn  from  the new List could go forward would be at the beginning of 2009 with consideration by the World Heritage Committee likely in the summer of 2010. The Committee, composed of representatives of 21 nations elected as the governing body of the World Heritage Convention, makes the final decisions on which nominations to accept on the World Heritage List at its annual meeting each summer.

General information about the Tentative List process is posted on the Office of International Affairs website at    http://www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/tentativelist.htm.

The earlier National Park Service preliminary staff report, including summaries of information on all 35 sites that were considered for the Tentative List, is available at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/TLEssayFinal.pdf. 

The original Applications submitted to the National Park Service for the candidate sites can be found at: http://www.nps.gov/oia/NewWebpages/ApplicantsTentativeList.html.

For further information, please contact Stephen Morris, Chief, Office of International  Affairs at (202) 354-1802 or Gerry Gaumer in the National Park Service's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 208-6843.

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   The Newark Earthworks are included as one component of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks nomination.

    Nine archeological sites containing more than 40 monumental ceremonial earthworks in precise geometric shapes reflect the sophisticated Native American Ohio Hopewell culture during the Woodland Period (1,000-2,000 years ago). They are located within three archeological preserves in the south-central portion of the State, one in each of three of the principal northern tributary valleys of the Ohio River--the Little Miami, the Scioto, and the Muskingum. They include Fort Ancient State Memorial, between Cincinnati and Dayton; the five sites in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, near Chillicothe, a unit of the National Park System; and the Newark Earthworks State Historic Site in the cities of Newark and Heath. These are among the largest earthworks in the world that are not fortifications or defensive structures, and they contain extensive deposits of finely crafted artifacts. Their scale is imposing by any standard: the Great Pyramid of Cheops would have fit inside the Wright Earthworks; four structures the size of the Colosseum of Rome would fit in the Octagon; and the circle of monoliths at Stonehenge would fit into one of the small auxiliary earthwork circles adjacent to the Octagon.

For more information about the World Heritage List, see http://whc.unesco.org/en/list.

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Printed below is a Press Release from the Ohio Historical Society:

Ohio Sites Make Final Cut for U.S. World Heritage List
Department of Interior To Nominate 14 Sites
(COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 24, 2008) -Three Ohio nominations made the Department of Interior’s final list of 14 U.S. cultural and natural areas to be considered for World Heritage status, the most for any state. The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Serpent Mound and Dayton Aviation Sites nominations represent 12 historic and prehistoric sites in the state.

“Ohio’s nominations made the final cut in this competitive process after an intensive public awareness campaign and tremendous support from Ohio citizens,” said William K. Laidlaw, Jr., executive director of the Ohio Historical Society. “To be ultimately recognized as a World Heritage site will be an international honor for our state that would raise awareness of the sites, promote their preservation for future generations and advance regional economic development through increased tourism.”

The World Heritage List, which is maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recognizes natural and cultural sites of significance to all peoples of the world. Sites that have achieved World Heritage status include the Palace of Versailles in France, the Acropolis in Greece and Florida’s Everglades.

Ohio Nominations Included on U.S. World Heritage List.

• THE HOPEWELL CEREMONIAL EARTHWORKS, a multi-site nomination consisting of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park’s five ancient earthworks in Ross County, including the Ohio Historical Society’s Seip Mound, as well as the Society’s Newark Earthworks in Licking County and Fort Ancient in Warren County. The extraordinarily large earthworks are outstanding examples of an architectural form and landscape design which illustrate 700 years of the Ohio Hopewell culture.
• SERPENT MOUND in Adams County, a state memorial administered by the Ohio Historical Society, is probably the best known archeological site in Ohio and features the earthen effigy of a snake.
• DAYTON AVIATION SITES, a multi-site nomination associated with the Wright Brothers and development of the airplane is comprised of Huffman Prairie Flying Field at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, The Wright Cycle Company and Wright and Wright Printing Company building, the Wright Flyer III enshrined in Wright Hall at Carillon Historical Park, and the Wright family home, Hawthorn Hill, in Dayton. The first three components are part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park System, although Huffman Prairie is owned by the U.S. Air Force and Wright Hall by Dayton History. Hawthorn Hill is owned by the Wright Family Foundation.

“The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and Serpent Mound are unique in the world,” said Dean Alexander, superintendent of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. “These ancient structures are representative of the rich cultural heritage of Ohio’s early Native Americans.”

Larry Blake, superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, points out that, “The nomination of the Dayton sites, which represent modern technology, along with the earthworks show the importance of Ohio’s history over the

This will be the first time since 1982 that the Department of the Interior has prepared a list of U.S. cultural and natural areas for consideration by UNESCO. The preparation of a tentative list is a necessary first step in the process of nominating a site to the World Heritage List, because a country cannot nominate a property unless it has been on its tentative list for a minimum of a year.

Being nominated for or included on the World Heritage List imposes no legal restrictions on 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 to U.S. law.

The tentative list developed by the Department of the Interior will serve as the source of nominations as the United States submits two sites every year for consideration by UNESCO between 2009 and 2018. If World Heritage status is granted, the nomination will join the 851 World Heritage sites in 141 counties, including the 20 sites in the United States—none of which are from Ohio.

More information about the World Heritage List and the nominated Ohio sites can be found at www.ohiohistory.org