§410y–1 Purposes; Establishment; Boundaries; Acquisition of Lands; Procedure for Acquisition; Time of Acquisition

Summary

Creates the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park to protect and explain the canal’s historic and scenic parts and to open them for public recreation and needed restoration. The park is in Maryland, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia and at first will include about 5,250 acres of federal land along the canal. It includes the lands already called the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Monument in West Virginia and the canal lands from Rock Creek in the District of Columbia to the monument’s end near the mouth of Seneca Creek in Maryland. The park boundary is shown on a map (CHOH 91,000, dated October 1969) kept at the National Park Service. State-owned land won’t be made part of the park unless the State donates it or the Secretary signs a written cooperative agreement that says the land will be run like other national park land. The terms of any donation or agreement must be sent to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources at least 60 days before they are carried out. The exact park boundaries must be set, published, and publicized within 18 months after January 8, 1971, and most private owners must be told then how much of their land is inside the park. The Secretary may get land inside the park by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated money, or exchange, but must not acquire for two years after January 8, 1971 any lands on the map that a State is shown to acquire if the Secretary and that State have completed a cooperative agreement under the rules above.