Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73

§683 Areas set aside for protection of game and fish; unlawfully taking game or fish

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 6— - GAME AND BIRD PRESERVES; PROTECTION › § 683

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President can set aside areas on lands the United States bought under the Act of March 1, 1911 (and related laws) to protect game animals, birds, and fish. Unless the Secretary of Agriculture allows it under specific rules, people may not hunt, catch, trap, willfully disturb or kill those animals or take bird eggs on those lands or in their waters.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §683

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The President of the United States is authorized to designate such areas on any lands which have been, or which may hereafter be, purchased by the United States under the provisions of the Act of March first, nineteen hundred and eleven, and Acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof, as should, in his opinion, be set aside for the protection of game animals, birds, or fish; and, except under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, catch, trap, willfully disturb or kill any kind of game animal, game or nongame bird, or fish, or take the eggs of any such bird on any lands so set aside, or in or on the waters thereof.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Act of March first, nineteen hundred and eleven, referred to in text, was in the original “Act of March first, nineteen hundred and eleven (Thirty-six Statutes at Large, page nine hundred and sixty-one), entitled ‘An Act to enable any State to cooperate with any other State or States, or with the United States, for the protection of watersheds of navigable streams, and to appoint a commission for the acquisition of lands for the purpose of conserving the navigability of navigable streams’ ”, which is popularly known as the Weeks Law, and which enacted former section 513 and 514 and sections 515 to 519, 521, 552, and 563 of this title and amended section 480 and 500 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.

Amendments

1948—Act June 25, 1948, struck out penal provisions (see section 41 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure), and inserted provision relating to the unlawfulness in hunting, catching, etc. game animals, etc. under

Rules and Regulations

of Secretary of Agriculture.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1948 Amendment section 20 of act June 25, 1948, provided that the amendment made by that act is effective Sept. 1, 1948.

Executive Documents

Presidential Designation The following areas have been designated by the President: Big Levels Game Refuge. Proclamation of
July 6, 1935 (49 Stat. 3448). Cherokee National Game Refuges. Proclamation of Aug. 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 1964), and Oct. 22, 1934 (49 Stat. 3423). National Catahoula Wildlife Management Preserve. Proclamation of Sept. 27, 1941 (55 Stat. 1689). National Red Dirt Wildlife Management Preserve. Proclamation of Sept. 27, 1941 (55 Stat. 1688). Noontootly National Game Refuge. Proclamation of
July 6, 1938 (52 Stat. 1549). Pisgah National Game Preserve. Proclamation of Oct. 17, 1916 (39 Stat. 1811).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 683

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73