Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73

§47–1 Administrative site for Yosemite National Park

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VI— - SEQUOIA AND YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARKS › § 47–1

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Let the Interior Secretary set up an administrative site in the El Portal area next to Yosemite so that utilities, facilities, and services needed to run the park can be placed outside the park to help protect its natural features. The Secretary may acquire about twelve hundred acres of non‑Federal land (as shown on map NP–YOS–7011) by purchase or donation, and may buy whole parcels if needed to avoid splitting private properties. The Agriculture and Interior Secretaries may swap control of lands in El Portal so land can move between national forest status and the administrative site. Existing private land claims and rights stay in effect. Until Congress acts, land gained or transferred under this rule is not part of Yosemite but is run by the Interior Secretary, who can make rules, grant nonexclusive leases or permits, and use Park Service funds for acquisition and related needs.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §47–1

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)To enable the Secretary of the Interior to preserve the extraordinary natural qualities of Yosemite National Park, notwithstanding its increasing use by the public, the Secretary is hereby authorized to provide in the manner hereinafter set forth an administrative site in the El Portal area adjacent to Yosemite National Park, in order that utilities, facilities, and services required in the operation and administration of Yosemite National Park may be located on such site outside the park.
(b)For said site the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to acquire by purchase or donation, or with donated funds, approximately twelve hundred acres, as shown on map numbered NP–YOS–7011, of non-Federal land, interests in land, and appurtenances thereto, and, to avoid severing parcels in private ownership which extend beyond the area so depicted, the Secretary of the Interior may acquire in their entirety such parcels of land or interests therein.
(c)The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior are authorized to arrange and effect mutually satisfactory transfers of jurisdiction over land administered by each in the El Portal area. Land so transferred to the Secretary of the Interior shall thereupon be excluded from the national forest or forests involved and thereafter be administered by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to this section as a part of said administrative site. Land transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to this section shall thereupon become national forest land subject to all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to land acquired pursuant to the Week’s law.
(d)Nothing herein contained shall affect any valid claim, location, or entry existing under the land laws of the United States, or the rights of any such claimant, locator, or entryman to the full use and enjoyment of his land.
(e)Until further action by the Congress, the lands acquired by or transferred to the Secretary of the Interior hereunder shall not become a part of Yosemite National Park, nor be subject to the laws and regulations governing said park, but the Secretary of the Interior shall have supervision, management, and control of the area and shall make and publish such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary and proper for its use and management: Provided, That he may grant nonexclusive privileges, leases, and permits for the use of land in the area and enter into contracts relating to the same, subject to the limitations and conditions applying to the similar authority provided in section 3 of the Act of August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535), as amended (45 Stat. 235, 16 U.S.C., 1952 edition, sec. 3).11 See References in Text note below.
(f)Funds now or hereafter appropriated or otherwise available for operating and capital programs in the areas administered by the National Park Service, including funds for acquisition of land and interests in land, are made available to acquire land, interests in land, and appurtenances thereto, within the administrative site, and to further the purpose of this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Week’s law, referred to in subsec. (c), is act Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, 36 Stat. 961, which is classified to section 480, 500, 513 to 519, 521, 552 and 563 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 552 of this title and Tables. section 3 of the Act of August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535), as amended (45 Stat. 235, 16 U.S.C., 1952 edition, sec. 3), referred to in subsec. (e), is section 3 of act Aug. 25, 1916, ch. 408, 39 Stat. 535, which enacted section 3 of this title. section 3 of the Act was repealed and restated as section 1865(a) of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 102101 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs, by Pub. L. 113–287, §§ 3, 4(a)(1), 7, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3094, 3260, 3272. Codification Subsecs. (a) to (f) are based on sections 1 to 6, respectively, of Pub. L. 85–922.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Land Exchange, El Portal Administrative Site, California Pub. L. 105–363, § 4, Nov. 6, 1998, 112 Stat. 3298, authorized transfer from the United States of land within the El Portal Administrative Site to party conveying to United States an adjacent property known as the Yosemite View parcel, and provided for equalization of values of Federal and non-Federal lands, applicability of other laws to the exchange, boundary adjustment, map, and additional terms and conditions.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 47–1

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73