16 U.S.C. § 1242 — National trails system

Page 1656 TITLE 16—CONSERVATION § 1242 tion of (and updates for) an operating handbook for Federal administrators of the National Trails System and others involved in creating a national system of trails. The handbook shall reflect each agencies’ gov- erning policies and provide guidance to each agencies’ field staff and partners about the roles and responsibil- ities needed to make each trail in the national system fully operational. SEC. 4. Observance of Existing Laws. Nothing in this Executive Order shall be construed to override existing laws, including those that protect the lands, waters, wildlife habitats, wilderness areas, and cultural values of this Nation. SEC. 5. Judicial Review. This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the executive branch. It does not create any right or benefit, sub- stantive or procedural, enforceable in law or equity by any party against the United States, its agencies, its officers or employees, or any other person. WILLIAM J. CLINTON. § 1242. National trails system (a) Composition: recreation trails; scenic trails; historic trails; connecting or side trails; uni- form markers The national system of trails shall be com- posed of the following: (1) National recreation trails, established as provided in section 1243 of this title, which will provide a variety of outdoor recreation uses in or reasonably accessible to urban areas. (2) National scenic trails, established as pro- vided in section 1244 of this title, which will be extended trails so located as to provide for maximum outdoor recreation potential and for the conservation and enjoyment of the nation- ally significant scenic, historic, natural, or cultural qualities of the areas through which such trails may pass. National scenic trails may be located so as to represent desert, marsh, grassland, mountain, canyon, river, forest, and other areas, as well as landforms which exhibit significant characteristics of the physiographic regions of the Nation. (3) National historic trails, established as provided in section 1244 of this title, which will be extended trails which follow as closely as possible and practicable the original trails or routes of travel of national historical sig- nificance. Designation of such trails or routes shall be continuous, but the established or de- veloped trail, and the acquisition thereof, need not be continuous onsite. National historic trails shall have as their purpose the identi- fication and protection of the historic route and its historic remnants and artifacts for public use and enjoyment. Only those selected land and water based components of an his- toric trail which are on federally owned lands and which meet the national historic trail cri- teria established in this chapter are included as Federal protection components of a na- tional historic trail. The appropriate Sec- retary may certify other lands as protected segments of an historic trail upon application from State or local governmental agencies or private interests involved if such segments meet the national historic trail criteria estab- lished in this chapter and such criteria supple- mentary thereto as the appropriate Secretary may prescribe, and are administered by such agencies or interests without expense to the United States. (4) Connecting or side trails, established as provided in section 1245 of this title, which will provide additional points of public access to national recreation, national scenic or na- tional historic trails or which will provide connections between such trails. The Secretary of the Interior and the Sec- retary of Agriculture, in consultation with ap- propriate governmental agencies and public and private organizations, shall establish a uniform marker for the national trails system. (b) Extended trails For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘ex- tended trails’’ means trails or trail segments which total at least one hundred miles in length, except that historic trails of less than one hundred miles may be designated as ex- tended trails. While it is desirable that extended trails be continuous, studies of such trails may conclude that it is feasible to propose one or more trail segments which, in the aggregate, constitute at least one hundred miles in length. (Pub. L. 90–543, § 3, Oct. 2, 1968, 82 Stat. 919; Pub. L. 95–625, title V, § 551(4), (5), Nov. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 3511, 3512; Pub. L. 98–11, title II, § 203, Mar. 28, 1983, 97 Stat. 42; Pub. L. 104–333, div. I, title VIII, § 814(d)(1)(E), Nov. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 4196.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–333 struck out subsec. (c) which read as follows: ‘‘On October 1, 1982, and at the beginning of each odd numbered fiscal year there- after, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and to the President of the United States Senate, an initial and revised (respectively) National Trails Sys- tem plan. Such comprehensive plan shall indicate the scope and extent of a completed nationwide system of trails, to include (1) desirable nationally significant scenic and historic components which are considered necessary to complete a comprehensive national sys- tem, and (2) other trails which would balance out a complete and comprehensive nationwide system of trails. Such plan, and the periodic revisions thereto, shall be prepared in full consultation with the Sec- retary of Agriculture, the Governors of the various States, and the trails community.’’ 1983—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–11, § 203(1), (2), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), redesignated former subsecs. (a) to (d) as pars. (1) to (4), respectively, and, in provisions preceding par. (1), substituted ‘‘shall be composed of the following:’’ for ‘‘shall be composed of—’’. Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 98–11, § 203(3), inserted provi- sion authorizing the location of national scenic trails so as to represent desert, marsh, grassland, mountain, canyon, river, forest, and other areas, as well as landforms which exhibit significant characteristics of the physiographic regions of the Nation. Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 98–11, § 203(4), (5), substituted ‘‘in this chapter are included as Federal’’ for ‘‘in this chapter, are established as initial Federal’’ in fourth sentence and struck out ‘‘subsequently’’ after ‘‘The ap- propriate Secretary may’’ in fifth sentence. Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 98–11, § 203(6), added subsecs. (b) and (c). 1978—Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 95–625, § 551(4), (5), added subsec. (c), redesignated former subsec. (c) as (d), and substituted ‘‘, national scenic or national historic’’ for ‘‘or national scenic’’. Page 1657 TITLE 16—CONSERVATION § 1244 § 1243. National recreation trails; establishment and designation; prerequisites (a) The Secretary of the Interior, or the Sec- retary of Agriculture where lands administered by him are involved, may establish and des- ignate national recreation trails, with the con- sent of the Federal agency, State, or political subdivision having jurisdiction over the lands involved, upon finding that— (i) such trails are reasonably accessible to urban areas, and, or (ii) such trails meet the criteria established in this chapter and such supplementary cri- teria as he may prescribe. (b) As provided in this section, trails within park, forest, and other recreation areas adminis- tered by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture or in other federally administered areas may be established and des- ignated as ‘‘National Recreation Trails’’ by the appropriate Secretary and, when no Federal land acquisition is involved— (i) trails in or reasonably accessible to urban areas may be designated as ‘‘National Recre- ation Trails’’ by the appropriate Secretary with the consent of the States, their political subdivisions, or other appropriate admin- istering agencies; (ii) trails within park, forest, and other recreation areas owned or administered by States may be designated as ‘‘National Recre- ation Trails’’ by the appropriate Secretary with the consent of the State; and (iii) trails on privately owned lands may be designated ‘‘National Recreation Trails’’ by the appropriate Secretary with the written consent of the owner of the property involved. (Pub. L. 90–543, § 4, Oct. 2, 1968, 82 Stat. 919; Pub. L. 98–11, title II, § 204, Mar. 28, 1983, 97 Stat. 43.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1983—Subsec. (b)(i), (ii). Pub. L. 98–11, § 204(1), sub- stituted ‘‘appropriate Secretary’’ for ‘‘Secretary of the Interior’’. Subsec. (b)(iii). Pub. L. 98–11, § 204(2)–(4), added cl. (iii). § 1244. National scenic and national historic trails (a) Establishment and designation; administra- tion National scenic and national historic trails shall be authorized and designated only by Act of Congress. There are hereby established the following National Scenic and National Historic Trails: (1) The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately two thousand miles ex- tending generally along the Appalachian Moun- tains from Mount Katahdin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia. Insofar as practicable, the right-of-way for such trail shall comprise the trail depicted on the maps identified as ‘‘Nation- wide System of Trails, Proposed Appalachian Trail, NST–AT–101–May 1967’’, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the of- fice of the Director of the National Park Serv- ice. Where practicable, such rights-of-way shall include lands protected for it under agreements in effect as of October 2, 1968, to which Federal agencies and States were parties. The Appa- lachian Trail shall be administered primarily as a footpath by the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture. (2) The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately two thousand three hun- dred fifty miles, extending from the Mexican- California border northward generally along the mountain ranges of the west coast States to the Canadian-Washington border near Lake Ross, following the route as generally depicted on the map, identified as ‘‘Nationwide System of Trails, Proposed Pacific Crest Trail, NST–PC–103–May 1967’’ which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Chief of the Forest Service. The Pacific Crest Trail shall be administered by the Sec- retary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior. (3) The Oregon National Historic Trail, a route of approximately two thousand miles extending from near Independence, Missouri, to the vicin- ity of Portland, Oregon, following a route as de- picted on maps identified as ‘‘Primary Route of the Oregon Trail 1841–1848’’, in the Department of the Interior’s Oregon Trail study report dated April 1977, and which shall be on file and avail- able for public inspection in the office of the Di- rector of the National Park Service. The trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the In- terior. No land or interest in land outside the exterior boundaries of any federally adminis- tered area may be acquired by the Federal Gov- ernment for the trail except with the consent of the owner of the land or interest in land. The authority of the Federal Government to acquire fee title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more than 1⁄4 mile on either side of the trail. (4) The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, a route of approximately one thousand three hundred miles extending from Nauvoo, Il- linois, to Salt Lake City, Utah, following the primary historical route of the Mormon Trail as generally depicted on a map, identified as, ‘‘Mormon Trail Vicinity Map, figure 2’’ in the Department of the Interior Mormon Trail study report dated March 1977, and which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the of- fice of the Director, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. The trail shall be adminis- tered by the Secretary of the Interior. No land or interest in land outside the exterior bound- aries of any federally administered area may be acquired by the Federal Government for the trail except with the consent of the owner of the land or interest in land. The authority of the Federal Government to acquire fee title under this paragraph shall be limited to an average of not more than 1⁄4 mile on either side of the trail. (5) The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, a trail of approximately thirty-one hun- dred miles, extending from the Montana-Canada border to the New Mexico-Mexico border, fol- lowing the approximate route depicted on the map, identified as ‘‘Proposed Continental Divide National Scenic Trail’’ in the Department of the Interior Continental Divide Trail study report