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Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§430l Leases with Preceding Owners of Acquired Lands; Conditions

Title 16 › Chapter 1— NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter LX— NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS › § 430l

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Secretary of the Interior may lease land back to the person(s) who owned it just before the government acquired it if they agree to use the land for the purposes of sections 430j–430m and 430o–430s. They must preserve existing battlefield features (like fortifications, buildings, roads, and the battlefield outline), only cut trees or disturb soil under rules the Secretary sets, and help protect tablets, monuments, and other authorized markers.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §430l

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to lease to the immediately preceding owner or owners any lands acquired pursuant to an agreement that such lessee or lessees will occupy such lands in a manner consistent with the purposes of sections 430j to 430m and 430o to 430s of this title and that they will preserve the present breastworks, earthworks, walls, defenses, shelters, buildings, and roads, and the present outlines of the battlefields, and that they will only cut trees or underbrush or disturb or remove the soil, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, and that they will assist in protecting all tablets, monuments, or such other artificial works as may from time to time be erected by proper authority.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1976—Pub. L. 94–578 substituted “lease to the immediately preceding owner or owners any lands acquired pursuant to an agreement that such lessee or lessees will occupy such lands in a manner consistent with the purposes of sections 430j to 430m and 430o to 430s of this title and” for “enter into leases with the owners of such of the lands, works, defenses, and buildings thereon within the Monocacy National Military Park, as in his discretion it is unnecessary to forthwith acquire title to, and such leases shall be on such terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, and may contain options to purchase, subject to later acceptance, if, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, it is as economical to purchase as condemn title to the property: Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior may enter into agreements upon such nominal terms as he may prescribe, permitting the present owners or their tenants to occupy or cultivate their present holdings, upon condition”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 430l

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60