16 Usc 1243

§ 1243

TITLE 16—CONSERVATION

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 appropriate 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’’.

§ 1243. National recreation trails; establishment
and designation; prerequisites
(a) The Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of Agriculture where lands administered
by him are involved, may establish and designate national recreation trails, with the consent 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 criteria as he may prescribe.
(b) As provided in this section, trails within
park, forest, and other recreation areas administered by the Secretary of the Interior or the
Secretary of Agriculture or in other federally
administered areas may be established and designated 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 Recreation Trails’’ by the appropriate Secretary
with the consent of the States, their political
subdivisions, or other appropriate administering agencies;
(ii) trails within park, forest, and other
recreation areas owned or administered by
States may be designated as ‘‘National Recreation 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.)
AMENDMENTS
1983—Subsec. (b)(i), (ii). Pub. L. 98–11, § 204(1), substituted ‘‘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; administration
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:

Page 1508

(1) The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, a
trail of approximately two thousand miles extending generally along the Appalachian Mountains 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 ‘‘Nationwide System of Trails, Proposed Appalachian
Trail, NST–AT–101–May 1967’’, which shall be on
file and available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service. 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 Appalachian 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 hundred fifty miles, extending from the MexicanCalifornia 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 Secretary 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 vicinity of Portland, Oregon, following a route as depicted 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 available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service. The trail
shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. No land or interest in land outside the
exterior boundaries 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.
(4) The Mormon Pioneer National Historic
Trail, a route of approximately one thousand
three hundred miles extending from Nauvoo, Illinois, 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 office of the Director, National Park Service,
Washington, D.C. The trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. No land
or interest in land outside the exterior boundaries 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