§ 460l-9. Allocation of land and water conservation fund moneys for Federal purposes

(a) Allowable purposes and subpurposes; acquisition of land and waters and interests therein; offset for specified capital costs

Moneys appropriated from the fund for Federal purposes shall, unless otherwise allotted in the appropriation Act making them available, be allotted by the President to the following purposes and subpurposes:

(1) For the acquisition of land, waters, or interests in land or waters as follows:

National Park System; recreation areas—Within the exterior boundaries of areas of the National Park System now or hereafter authorized or established and of areas now or hereafter authorized to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior for outdoor recreation purposes.

National Forest System—Inholdings within

(a) wilderness areas of the National Forest System, and

(b) other areas of national forests as the boundaries of those forests exist on the effective date of this Act, or purchase units approved by the National Forest Reservation Commission subsequent to the date of this Act, all of which other areas are primarily of value for outdoor recreation purposes: Provided, That lands outside of but adjacent to an existing national forest boundary, not to exceed three thousand acres in the case of any one forest, which would comprise an integral part of a forest recreational management area may also be acquired with moneys appropriated from this fund: Provided further, That except for areas specifically authorized by Act of Congress, not more than 15 per centum of the acreage added to the National Forest System pursuant to this section shall be west of the 100th meridian.

National Wildlife Refuge System—Acquisition for

(a) endangered species and threatened species authorized under section 1534 (a) of this title;

(b) areas authorized by section 460k–1 of this title;

(c) national wildlife refuge areas under section 742f (a)(4) of this title and wetlands acquired under section 3922 of this title;

(d) any areas authorized for the National Wildlife Refuge System by specific Acts.

(2) For payment into miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury as a partial offset for those capital costs, if any, of Federal water development projects hereafter authorized to be constructed by or pursuant to an Act of Congress which are allocated to public recreation and the enhancement of fish and wildlife values and financed through appropriations to water resource agencies.

(3) Appropriations allotted for the acquisition of land, waters, or interests in land or waters as set forth under the headings “National Park System; Recreation Areas” and “National Forest System” in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be available therefor notwithstanding any statutory ceiling on such appropriations contained in any other provision of law enacted prior to the convening of the Ninety-fifth Congress or, in the case of national recreation areas, prior to the convening of the Ninety-sixth Congress; except that for any such area expenditures may not exceed a statutory ceiling during any one fiscal year by 10 per centum of such ceiling or $1,000,000, whichever is greater.

(b) Acquisition restrictions

Appropriations from the fund pursuant to this section shall not be used for acquisition unless such acquisition is otherwise authorized by law: Provided, however, That appropriations from the fund may be used for preacquisition work in instances where authorization is imminent and where substantial monetary savings could be realized.

(1) Whenever the Secretary of the Interior determines that to do so will contribute to, and is necessary for, the proper preservation, protection, interpretation, or management of an area of the national park system, he may, following timely notice in writing to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate of his intention to do so, and by publication of a revised boundary map or other description in the Federal Register,

(i) make minor revisions of the boundary of the area, and moneys appropriated from the fund shall be available for acquisition of any lands, waters, and interests therein added to the area by such boundary revision subject to such statutory limitations, if any, on methods of acquisition and appropriations thereof as may be specifically applicable to such area; and

(ii) acquire by donation, purchase with donated funds, transfer from any other Federal agency, or exchange, lands, waters, or interests therein adjacent to such area, except that in exercising his authority under this clause (ii) the Secretary may not alienate property administered as part of the national park system in order to acquire lands by exchange, the Secretary may not acquire property without the consent of the owner, and the Secretary may acquire property owned by a State or political subdivision thereof only by donation. Prior to making a determination under this subsection, the Secretary shall consult with the duly elected governing body of the county, city, town, or other jurisdiction or jurisdictions having primary taxing authority over the land or interest to be acquired as to the impacts of such proposed action, and he shall also take such steps as he may deem appropriate to advance local public awareness of the proposed action. Lands, waters, and interests therein acquired in accordance with this subsection shall be administered as part of the area to which they are added, subject to the laws and regulations applicable thereto.

(2) For the purposes of clause (i) of paragraph (1), in all cases except the case of technical boundary revisions (resulting from such causes as survey error or changed road alignments), the authority of the Secretary under such clause (i) shall apply only if each of the following conditions is met:

(A) The sum of the total acreage of lands, waters, and interests therein to be added to the area and the total such acreage to be deleted from the area is not more than 5 percent of the total Federal acreage authorized to be included in the area and is less than 200 acres in size.

(B) The acquisition, if any, is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, as determined by the Secretary.

(C) The sum of the total appraised value of the lands, waters, and interests therein to be added to the area and the total appraised value of the lands, waters, and interests therein to be deleted from the area does not exceed $750,000.

(D) The proposed boundary revision is not an element of a more comprehensive boundary modification proposal.

(E) The proposed boundary has been subject to a public review and comment period.

(F) The Director of the National Park Service obtains written consent for the boundary modification from all property owners whose lands, waters, or interests therein, or a portion of whose lands, waters, or interests therein, will be added to or deleted from the area by the boundary modification.

(G) The lands abut other Federal lands administered by the Director of the National Park Service.

Minor boundary revisions involving only deletions of acreage owned by the Federal Government and administered by the National Park Service may be made only by Act of Congress.

U.S. Code

§ 460l-9. Allocation of land and water conservation fund moneys for Federal purposes