Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER LIX–C— - SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK › § 410ee
Creates the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park to protect and interpret four Spanish missions—Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan, and Espada—and related historic areas. The park’s borders are shown on official maps dated May 1978 and June 7, 1990, and a 2012 map adds about 137 acres (map number 472/113,006A). The 2012 addition can only be bought by donation or land exchange. The Interior Department may make small boundary changes after telling the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee in writing and publishing the change. The Interior Department may get land or interests by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange for the missions, the Espada Acequia (about five miles along the west side of the San Antonio River), Espada Dam and Aqueduct, San Juan Acequia, and any land needed for access, protection, or interpretation. The Department can make agreements with private owners. Owners of an "improved property" (a noncommercial detached house started before January 1, 1978, with needed yard and accessory buildings) may keep the right to live there for 25 years or until the owner or spouse dies, whichever is later; the owner is paid fair market value minus the value of that retained right. That right can be ended if the property stops being used as a home, with payment for the unused portion. The Department must protect the missions and run the park under National Park rules. An 11‑member advisory commission, appointed for two‑year terms, may be set up, members serve without pay but can be reimbursed for expenses, and the commission was to be appointed within six months after November 10, 1978 and ends ten years after its first meeting unless Congress extends it. Up to $10,000,000 is authorized for land purchases and up to $15,000,000 for essential public facilities.
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Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 410ee
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73