Title 16 › Chapter 1— NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter LIX–C— SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK › § 410ee
Creates the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park to protect, restore, and explain four Spanish missions in San Antonio — Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan, and Espada — and other historic areas tied to them. The park’s boundaries are shown on maps dated May 1978 and a set dated June 7, 1990 that are kept in National Park Service offices for public viewing. About 137 acres were added by a June 2012 map; those added lands can only be acquired by donation or exchange. The Secretary of the Interior can buy, accept donations of, or trade for lands and interests needed for the missions, including the named missions, sections of the Espada and San Juan acequias (irrigation channels), the Espada dam and aqueduct, and other lands needed for access, protection, and interpretation. After telling the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources in writing, the Secretary may make small boundary changes by publishing a new map in the Federal Register. Owners of houses on land the Secretary buys may keep living there for noncommercial residential use for either 25 years or until the death of the owner or spouse, whichever lasts longer; the owner chooses which. The Secretary pays the owner the fair market value of the property minus the value of the retained right. If the house stops being used as a noncommercial home, the Secretary can end the right and pay the remaining value. “Improved property” means a detached noncommercial home whose construction began before January 1, 1978, plus a reasonable amount of land and accessory structures. The Secretary must protect the missions and run the park under National Park Service rules. An 11-member advisory commission may be created with two-year terms, set up as described, meets at least twice a year, and ends ten years after its first meeting unless Congress extends it. Up to $10,000,000 is authorized for land acquisition and up to $15,000,000 for essential public facilities, with other needed sums allowed.
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Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 410ee
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60