Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-102

§460a–7 Coordination of Recreational Development on Parkway and National Forest Lands; Administration of Forest Land Recreational Facilities and Access Road Development by Secretary of Agriculture; Forest Road and Appalachian Trail Relocation and Reconstruction and Alternative Forest Road Provision by Secretary of the Interior

Title 16 › CHAPTER 1 — NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › SUBCHAPTER LXV — NATIONAL PARKWAYS › § 460a–7

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

To carry out the report on extending the Blue Ridge Parkway into North Carolina and Georgia under the Act of August 10, 1961 (75 Stat. 337), the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture must work together to plan recreation on parkway lands and nearby national forest lands. Recreation facilities inside national forests (but not inside the parkway itself) must be run by the Secretary of Agriculture. If the parkway work affects forest roads, the Interior Secretary must rebuild them or provide alternate roads when the Agriculture Secretary asks, and must allow access for areas the Agriculture Secretary will develop unless that would seriously harm the parkway’s main purposes. The Interior Secretary may also move and rebuild parts of the Appalachian Trail and its shelters if needed. That work can be done on private land only if the Appalachian Trail Conference gets the owner’s permission and agrees to maintain the trail, and it can be done on national forest land only with the Agriculture Secretary’s approval.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §460a–7

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

To effectuate the recommendations in the report to the Congress on the North Carolina-Georgia extension of the Blue Ridge Parkway, made pursuant to the Act of August 10, 1961 (75 Stat. 337)—
(1)The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall, insofar as practicable, coordinate and correlate recreational development on lands within the parkway and adjacent or related national forests land: Provided, That within national forest boundaries recreational developments and facilities on Federal lands other than those actually within the national parkway shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture;
(2)Upon the request of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior shall relocate and reconstruct any national forest roads that may be disturbed by the parkway extension, or provide alternative roads that are necessary to the protection, administration, or utilization of the national forests, and shall allow access to areas to be developed by the Secretary of Agriculture on adjacent national forest lands unless to do so will materially impair the primary purposes of the parkway;
(3)The Secretary of the Interior may relocate and reconstruct portions of the Appalachian Trail, including trail shelters, that may be disturbed by the parkway extension and such relocation and reconstruction may be performed (A) on non-Federal lands when the Appalachian Trail Conference obtains the consent of the owner to the use of the lands for the purpose and agrees to assume maintenance thereof, and (B) upon national forest lands with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Act of August 10, 1961, referred to in text, is Pub. L. 87–135, Aug. 10, 1961, 75 Stat. 337, which was not classified to the Code.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 460a–7

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102