Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73
§495 Leases of lands for sanitariums or hotels
Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 2— - NATIONAL FORESTS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION › § 495
Summary
The Secretary of Agriculture can lease land near mineral or medicinal springs in national forests to people or companies who want to build sanitariums or hotels open to the public. He can also allow tents or temporary cabins for visitors and sets the rules, lease length, and fees.
Full Legal Text
Title 16, §495
Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, under such rules and regulations as he from time to time may make, to rent or lease to responsible persons or corporations applying therefor suitable spaces and portions of ground near, or adjacent to, mineral, medicinal, or other springs, within any national forest established within the United States, or hereafter to be established, and where the public is accustomed or desires to frequent, for health or pleasure, for the purpose of erecting upon such leased ground sanitariums or hotels, to be opened for the reception of the public. And he is further authorized to make such regulations, for the convenience of people visiting such springs, with reference to spaces and locations, for the erection of tents or temporary dwelling houses to be erected or constructed for the use of those visiting such springs for health or pleasure. And the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to prescribe the terms and duration and the compensation to be paid for the privileges granted under the provisions of this section.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification “National forest” substituted in text for “forest reserves” on authority of act Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, 34 Stat. 1269, which provided that forest reserves shall hereafter be known as national forests.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Transfer of Functions
Act Feb. 1, 1905 transferred certain functions with regard to administration of national forests from Secretary of the Interior to Secretary of Agriculture.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 495
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73