PRIA Logo™
Take the PRIA Score
Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73

§444 Petrified Forest National Monument; elimination of private holdings of land within boundaries; exchange of lands

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER LXI— - NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS › § 444

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior can get full ownership of any privately held land inside the Petrified Forest National Monument by having the owner give up their title. In return the owner gets public land of equal value in Navajo and/or Apache County, Arizona. Before any exchange, a public notice must run in the counties where the lands are for at least 30 days. The Secretary must pick public lands outside the monument for these swaps that are mainly good for grazing and growing forage, have no merchantable timber, cannot be irrigated from any known water source, and are similar in character to the private land offered.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §444

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the Interior, for the purpose of eliminating private holdings of land within the Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona, is empowered, in his discretion, to obtain for the United States the complete title to any or all of the lands held in private ownership within the boundaries of the Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona, as now or as may be hereafter defined, by accepting from the owners of such privately owned lands complete relinquishment thereof and by granting and patenting to such owners in exchange therefor, in each instance, like public lands of equal value situated in Navajo and/or Apache Counties, in the State of Arizona, after due notice of the proposed exchange has been given by publication for not less than thirty days in the counties where the lands proposed to be exchanged or taken in exchange are located: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior shall, on application or otherwise, designate public lands located outside the extreme boundaries of the said monument subject to exchange under this section which are, in his opinion, chiefly valuable for grazing and raising forage crops, do not contain merchantable timber, are not susceptible of irrigation from any known source of water supply, and are of character similar to the privately owned lands offered in exchange.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Disestablishment of Petrified Forest National MonumentDisestablishment of Petrified Forest National Monument upon establishment of Petrified Forest National Park, see section 119 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 444

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73