16 U.S.C. § 195: Control; regulations; leases…

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must run Rocky Mountain National Park and, as soon as possible, create and publish reasonable rules that follow U.S. law to care for, protect, manage, and improve the park. The rules must encourage public recreation and keep the park’s natural and scenic features. The Secretary may lease up to 20 acres in one place for up to 20 years for visitor buildings, grant other visitor privileges, remove mature, dead, or down timber when needed, set rules for automobile use, and accept donated patented land or rights-of-way over patented land.

Title 16, §195

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Rocky Mountain National Park shall be under the executive control of the Secretary of the Interior, and it shall be the duty of the said executive authority, as soon as practicable, to make and publish such reasonable rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, as the said authority may deem necessary or proper for the care, protection, management, and improvement of the same, the said regulations being primarily aimed at the freest use of the said park for recreation purposes by the public and for the preservation of the natural conditions and scenic beauties thereof. The said authority may, in his discretion, execute leases to parcels of ground not exceeding twenty acres in extent in any one place to any person or company for not to exceed twenty years whenever such ground is necessary for the erection of establishments for the accommodation of visitors, may grant such other necessary privileges and concessions as he deems wise for the accommodation of visitors, and may likewise arrange for the removal of such mature or dead or down timber as he may deem necessary and advisable for the protection and improvement of the park. The regulations governing the park shall include provisions for the use of automobiles therein: The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept patented lands or rights of way over patented lands in the Rocky Mountain National Park that may be donated for park purposes.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section, with the exception of the last sentence, was from section 4 of act Jan. 26, 1915. The last sentence was from section 1 of act June 12, 1917.

Amendments

1919—Act Mar. 1, 1919, ch. 88, struck out “Provided, That no appropriation for the maintenance, supervision, or improvement of said park in excess of $10,000 annually shall be made unless the same shall have first been expressly authorized by law” after “automobiles therein:”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Obligation of Fees for Transportation Services at Zion or Rocky Mountain National Parks Pub. L. 108–7, div. F, title I, § 140, Feb. 20, 2003, 117 Stat. 244, provided that: “In fiscal year 2003 and each fiscal year thereafter, notwithstanding any other provision of law, with respect to a service contract for the provision solely of transportation services at Zion National Park or Rocky Mountain National Park, the Secretary of the Interior may obligate the expenditure of fees expected to be received in that fiscal year before the fees are received, so long as total obligations do not exceed fee collections retained at Zion National Park or Rocky Mountain National Park, respectively, by the end of that fiscal year.” Expenditure of Funds Outside Authorized Boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park Pub. L. 104–333, div. I, title VIII, § 810, Nov. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 4189, provided that: “The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to collect and expend donated funds and expend appropriated funds for the operation and maintenance of a visitor center to be constructed for visitors to and administration of Rocky Mountain National Park with private funds on privately owned lands located outside the boundary of the park.”

§195 Control; Regulations; Leases; Sale and Removal of Timber