16 U.S.C. § 1243 — National recreation trails; establishment

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