Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73

§670k Definitions

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 5C— - CONSERVATION PROGRAMS ON GOVERNMENT LANDS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - CONSERVATION PROGRAMS ON PUBLIC LANDS › § 670k

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Defines key words used in this part of the law. "Administrator" means the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "Chairman" means the head of the Atomic Energy Commission. "Off‑road vehicle" means a motorized vehicle built for or able to travel across natural terrain like land, water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, or swamps, but it does not include a registered motorboat if a State chooses, emergency or military vehicles used on duty, or vehicles specifically allowed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture by permit, lease, license, or contract. "Public land" means lands under the Interior Secretary, Agriculture Secretary, the Chairman, and the Administrator, except lands that are military reservations, National Park units, national wildlife refuges, Indian reservations, or lands held in trust for Indians or tribes. "State agency" means the state agency that runs the state's fish and game laws. "Conservation and rehabilitation programs" means the methods used to protect, conserve, and improve fish, wildlife, and game on those public lands, including scientific work like protection, research, counts, law enforcement, habitat management, breeding, moving animals, and regulated taking, and it does not reduce State authority over resident species except where the law says otherwise.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §670k

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

As used in this subchapter—
(1)The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
(2)The term “Chairman” means the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
(3)The term “off-road vehicle” means any motorized vehicle designed for, or capable of, cross-country travel on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or other natural terrain; but such term does not include—
(A)any registered motorboat at the option of each State;
(B)any military, fire, emergency, or law enforcement vehicle when used for emergency purposes; and
(C)any vehicle the use of which is expressly authorized by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture under a permit, lease, license, or contract.
(4)The term “public land” means all lands, under the respective jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Chairman, and the Administrator, except land which is, or hereafter may be, within or designated as—
(A)a military reservation;
(B)a unit of the National Park System;
(C)an area within the national wildlife refuge system;
(D)an Indian reservation; or
(E)an area within an Indian reservation or land held in trust by the United States for an Indian or Indian tribe.
(5)The term “State agency” means the agency or agencies of a State responsible for the administration of the fish and game laws of the State.
(6)The term “conservation and rehabilitation programs” means to utilize those methods and procedures which are necessary to protect, conserve, and enhance wildlife, fish, and game resources to the maximum extent practicable on public lands subject to this subchapter consistent with any overall land use and management plans for the lands involved. Such methods and procedures shall include, but shall not be limited to, all activities associated with scientific resources management such as protection, research, census, law enforcement, habitat management, propagation, live trapping and transplantation, and regulated taking in conformance with the provisions of this subchapter. Nothing in this term shall be construed as diminishing the authority or jurisdiction of the States with respect to the management of resident species of fish, wildlife, or game, except as otherwise provided by law.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2011—Pub. L. 112–81 inserted section catchline.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Atomic Energy Commission abolished and functions transferred by section 5814 and 5841 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. See, also,

Transfer of Functions

notes set out under those sections.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 670k

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73