Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73
§460mmm–4 Management
Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER CXXIV— - McINNIS CANYONS NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA › § 460mmm–4
Summary
Manage the Conservation Area to protect and improve its natural and cultural resources and follow federal land laws, including the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. Only allow uses that help the area's purposes. Federal lands inside the area and wilderness, and lands the United States later buys for them, are removed from normal public land entry, mining claims, and mineral and geothermal leasing, except for valid existing rights. Motor vehicles are allowed only on specific roads and trails: the roads shown in the plan that applied on October 24, 2000, until a new plan takes effect, and then only on roads the new plan designates. Vehicles can still be used for official work or emergencies. Wilderness lands must be managed like other wilderness under the Wilderness Act, treating October 24, 2000, as the key date. Hunting, trapping, and fishing are allowed under federal and state laws, but state wildlife officials or the Secretary can set safety or seasonal limits. Grazing is handled like other BLM lands, with special wilderness grazing rules where required. The Secretary must write a comprehensive management plan within 3 years after October 24, 2000, describing allowed uses, considering studies and local input, keeping certain utility, communications, and FAA sites, and including public lands down to the edge of the Colorado River. The Secretary may buy land only from willing sellers, by exchange, or by donation, and may set up small visitor information sites. Congress finds these wilderness lands are headwaters and not suited for new water projects. Nothing in the law creates or changes water rights, and Colorado water rights that existed on October 24, 2000, are not affected. The Secretary must follow Colorado law to obtain any new water rights. After October 24, 2000, the federal government will not fund, help, authorize, or permit new water resource facilities in the designated wilderness, though facilities that existed on that date may continue to be used and maintained. The Colorado River itself is not included up to the 100-year high water mark, and federal lands between that mark on each shore (from the line labeled “Line A” east to the Colorado–Utah border) are withdrawn from public entry, mining claims, and mineral and geothermal leasing, subject to existing rights.
Full Legal Text
Title 16, §460mmm–4
Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Secretary shall manage the Conservation Area in a manner that—
(1)conserves, protects, and enhances the resources of the Conservation Area specified in section 460mmm(b) 11 So in original. Probably should be section “460mmm(a)”. of this title; and
(2)is in accordance with—
(A)the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); and
(B)other applicable law, including this subchapter.
(b)The Secretary shall allow only such uses of the Conservation Area as the Secretary determines will further the purposes for which the Conservation Area is established.
(c)Subject to valid existing rights, all Federal land within the Conservation Area and the Wilderness and all land and interests in land acquired for the Conservation Area or the Wilderness by the United States are withdrawn from—
(1)all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws;
(2)location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
(3)the operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws, and all amendments thereto.
(d)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), use of motorized vehicles in the Conservation Area—
(A)before the effective date of a management plan under subsection (h), shall be allowed only on roads and trails designated for use of motor vehicles in the management plan that applies on October 24, 2000, to the public lands in the Conservation Area; and
(B)after the effective date of a management plan under subsection (h), shall be allowed only on roads and trails designated for use of motor vehicles in that management plan.
(2)Paragraph (1) shall not limit the use of motor vehicles in the Conservation Area as needed for administrative purposes or to respond to an emergency.
(e)Subject to valid existing rights, lands designated as wilderness by this subchapter shall be managed by the Secretary, as appropriate, in accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) and this subchapter, except that, with respect to any wilderness areas designated by this subchapter, any reference in the Wilderness Act to the effective date of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to October 24, 2000.
(f)(1)Hunting, trapping, and fishing shall be allowed within the Conservation Area and the Wilderness in accordance with applicable laws and regulations of the United States and the States of Colorado and Utah.
(2)The head of the Colorado Division of Wildlife (in reference to land within the State of Colorado), the head of the Utah Division of Wildlife (in reference to land within the State of Utah), or the Secretary after consultation with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (in reference to land within the State of Colorado) or the head of the Utah Division of Wildlife (in reference to land within the State of Utah), may issue regulations designating zones where, and establishing limited periods when, hunting, trapping, or fishing shall be prohibited in the Conservation Area or the Wilderness for reasons of public safety, administration, or public use and enjoyment.
(g)(1)Except as provided by paragraph (2), the Secretary shall issue and administer any grazing leases or permits in the Conservation Area and the Wilderness in accordance with the same laws (including regulations) and Executive orders followed by the Secretary in issuing and administering grazing leases and permits on other land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.
(2)Grazing of livestock in the Wilderness shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of section 4(d)(4) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(4)), in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Appendix A of House Report 101–405 of the 101st Congress.
(h)(1)Not later than 3 years after October 24, 2000, the Secretary shall develop a comprehensive management plan for the long-range protection and management of the Conservation Area and the Wilderness and the lands described in paragraph (2)(E).
(2)The management plan shall—
(A)describe the appropriate uses and management of the Conservation Area and the Wilderness;
(B)take into consideration any information developed in studies of the land within the Conservation Area or the Wilderness;
(C)provide for the continued management of the utility corridor, Black Ridge Communications Site, and the Federal Aviation Administration site as such for the land designated on the Map as utility corridor, Black Ridge Communications Site, and the Federal Aviation Administration site;
(D)take into consideration the historical involvement of the local community in the interpretation and protection of the resources of the Conservation Area and the Wilderness, as well as the Ruby Canyon/Black Ridge Integrated Resource Management Plan, dated March 1998, which was the result of collaborative efforts on the part of the Bureau of Land Management and the local community; and
(E)include all public lands between the boundary of the Conservation Area and the edge of the Colorado River and, on such lands, the Secretary shall allow only such recreational or other uses as are consistent with this subchapter.
(i)The Congress does not intend for the establishment of the Conservation Area or the Wilderness to lead to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones around the Conservation Area or the Wilderness. The fact that there may be activities or uses on lands outside the Conservation Area or the Wilderness that would not be allowed in the Conservation Area or the Wilderness shall not preclude such activities or uses on such lands up to the boundary of the Conservation Area or the Wilderness consistent with other applicable laws.
(j)(1)The Secretary may acquire non-federally owned land within the exterior boundaries of the Conservation Area or the Wilderness only through purchase from a willing seller, exchange, or donation.
(2)Land acquired under paragraph (1) shall be managed as part of the Conservation Area or the Wilderness, as the case may be, in accordance with this subchapter.
(k)The Secretary may establish minimal interpretive facilities or sites in cooperation with other public or private entities as the Secretary considers appropriate. Any facilities or sites shall be designed to protect the resources referred to in section 460mmm(b) of this title.
(l)(1)Congress finds that—
(A)the lands designated as wilderness by this subchapter are located at the headwaters of the streams and rivers on those lands, with few, if any, actual or proposed water resource facilities located upstream from such lands and few, if any, opportunities for diversion, storage, or other uses of water occurring outside such lands that would adversely affect the wilderness or other values of such lands;
(B)the lands designated as wilderness by this subchapter generally are not suitable for use for development of new water resource facilities, or for the expansion of existing facilities;
(C)it is possible to provide for proper management and protection of the wilderness and other values of such lands in ways different from those utilized in other legislation designating as wilderness lands not sharing the attributes of the lands designated as wilderness by this subchapter.
(2)(A)Nothing in this subchapter shall constitute or be construed to constitute either an express or implied reservation of any water or water rights with respect to the lands designated as a national conservation area or as wilderness by this subchapter.
(B)Nothing in this subchapter shall affect any conditional or absolute water rights in the State of Colorado existing on October 24, 2000.
(C)Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as establishing a precedent with regard to any future national conservation area or wilderness designations.
(D)Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as limiting, altering, modifying, or amending any of the interstate compacts or equitable apportionment decrees that apportion water among and between the State of Colorado and other States.
(3)The Secretary shall follow the procedural and substantive requirements of the law of the State of Colorado in order to obtain and hold any new water rights with respect to the Conservation Area and the Wilderness.
(4)(A)As used in this paragraph, the term “water resource facility” means irrigation and pumping facilities, reservoirs, water conservation works, aqueducts, canals, ditches, pipelines, wells, hydropower projects, and transmission and other ancillary facilities, and other water diversion, storage, and carriage structures. Such term does not include any such facilities related to or used for the purpose of livestock grazing.
(B)Except as otherwise provided by subsection (g) or other provisions of this subchapter, on and after October 24, 2000, neither the President nor any other officer, employee, or agent of the United States shall fund, assist, authorize, or issue a license or permit for the development of any new water resource facility within the wilderness area designated by this subchapter.
(C)Except as provided in this paragraph, nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to affect or limit the use, operation, maintenance, repair, modification, or replacement of water resource facilities in existence on October 24, 2000, within the boundaries of the Wilderness.
(5)(A)Neither the Conservation Area nor the Wilderness shall include any part of the Colorado River to the 100-year high water mark.
(B)Nothing in this subchapter shall affect the authority that the Secretary may or may not have to manage recreational uses on the Colorado River, except as such authority may be affected by compliance with paragraph (3). Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to affect the authority of the Secretary to manage the public lands between the boundary of the Conservation Area and the edge of the Colorado River.
(C)Subject to valid existing rights, all lands owned by the Federal Government between the 100-year high water mark on each shore of the Colorado River, as designated on the Map from the line labeled “Line A” on the east to the boundary between the States of Colorado and Utah on the west, are hereby withdrawn from—
(i)all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws;
(ii)location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
(iii)the operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, referred to in subsec. (a)(2)(A), is Pub. L. 94–579, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2743, which is classified principally to chapter 35 (§ 1701 et seq.) of Title 43, Public Lands. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 1701 of Title 43 and Tables. The Wilderness Act, referred to in subsec. (e), is Pub. L. 88–577, Sept. 3, 1964, 78 Stat. 890, which is classified generally to chapter 23 (§ 1131 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 1131 of this title and Tables. The
Effective Date
of the Wilderness Act, referred to in subsec.(e), means Sept. 3, 1964, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 88–577, which enacted chapter 23 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 460mmm–4
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73