PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must run the park under the National Park Service law of August 25, 1916, and may use available conservation and wildlife management powers as needed. The Secretary can make reimbursable agreements with the State of Ohio or its local governments to provide rescue, firefighting, and law enforcement help. Work on water projects like erosion and flood control inside the park must follow plans both the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army agree on and that match the park’s purposes and other water laws. The Secretary, working with the Secretary of Agriculture, the State of Ohio, and local governments, must lead a program to restore plants and stop erosion across all lands in the park’s boundaries. Work on private land needs the owner’s consent and a promise to keep the treatment for at least ten years. The Secretary must also fix ecological problems that threaten health or safety. In consultation with Ohio’s Governor, the Secretary must list and evaluate historic, cultural, or architectural sites in the park and set up programs to preserve, restore, explain, and use them. The Secretary may accept donations of money, property, or services for park purposes. The Secretary can help local governments write zoning rules to protect the park, seeking bans on commercial or industrial uses next to the park (except farms and orchards), limits on things that would harm the park’s character, and notice to the Secretary of any hearings on variances or exceptions.

Title 16, §460ff–3

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary shall administer the park in accordance with the provisions of the Act of August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535) as amended and supplemented (16 U.S.C. 1, 2–4).11 See References in Text note below. In the administration of the park, the Secretary may utilize such statutory authority available to him for the conservation and management of wildlife and natural resources as he deems appropriate to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.

(b)The Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements with the State of Ohio, or any political subdivision thereof, for the rendering, on a reimbursable basis, of rescue, firefighting, and law enforcement services and cooperative assistance by nearby law enforcement and fire preventive agencies.

(c)(1)The authority of the Secretary of the Army to undertake or contribute to water resource development, including erosion control and flood control, on land or waters within the park shall be exercised in accordance with plans which are mutually acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army and which are consistent with both the purposes of this subchapter and the purposes of existing statutes dealing with water and related land resource development.

(2)The Secretary is authorized and directed, in cooperation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the State of Ohio, and affected local governments, to undertake a program of and treatment for the purpose of restoring suitable vegetative cover to substantially eliminate erosion from all lands, public and private, within the authorized boundaries of the park. In the case of any private lands, within such authorized boundaries such treatment may be undertaken only with the consent of the owner thereof and shall be contingent upon assurances that such land treatment will be maintained by the owner for a period of not less than ten years. The Secretary shall, in conjunction with such program, take such actions as may be required to correct areas of ecological degradation which create hazards to health and safety.

(d)The Secretary, in consultation with the Governor of the State of Ohio, shall inventory and evaluate all sites and structures within the park having present and potential historical, cultural, or architectural significance and shall provide for appropriate programs for the preservation, restoration, interpretation, and utilization of them.

(e)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary is authorized to accept donations of funds, property, or services from individuals, foundations, corporations, or public entities for the purposes of providing services and facilities which he deems consistent with the purposes of this subchapter.

(f)The Secretary may, on his own initiative, or at the request of any local government (or intergovernmental organization) having jurisdiction over land located within or adjacent to the park, assist and consult with the appropriate officers and employees of such local government (or intergovernmental organization) in establishing zoning laws or ordinances which will assist in achieving the purposes of this subchapter. In providing assistance pursuant to this subsection, the Secretary shall endeavor to obtain provisions in such zoning laws or ordinances which—

(1)have the effect of prohibiting the commercial and industrial use (other than a use for commercial farms and orchards) of all real property adjacent to the park;

(2)aid in preserving the character of the park by appropriate restrictions on the use of real property in the vicinity including, but not limited to, restrictions upon: building and construction of all types; signs and billboards; the burning of cover; cutting of timber (except tracts managed for sustained yield); removal of topsoil, sand, or gravel; dumping, storage, or piling of refuse; or any other use which would detract from the aesthetic character of the park; and

(3)have the effect of providing that the Secretary shall receive notice of any hearing for the purpose of granting a variance and any variance granted under, and of any exception made to, the application of such law or ordinance.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Act of August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535) as amended and supplemented (16 U.S.C. 1, 2–4), referred to in subsec. (a), is act Aug. 25, 1916, ch. 408, 39 Stat. 535, known as the National Park Service Organic Act, which enacted section 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this title and provisions set out as a note under section 100101 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs. Sections 1 to 4 of the Act were repealed and restated as section 1865(a) of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 100101(a), chapter 1003, and section 100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 102101 of Title 54 by Pub. L. 113–287, §§ 3, 4(a)(1), 7, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3094, 3260, 3272. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. For disposition of former sections of this title, see Disposition Table preceding section 100101 of Title 54.

Amendments

2000—Pub. L. 106–291 substituted “park” for “recreation area” wherever appearing. 1986—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 99–658 designated existing provision as par. (1) and added par. (2). 1978—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 95–625 inserted in introductory text “(or intergovernmental organization)” after “local government” in two places, and last sentence providing that assistance may include payments for technical aid.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Appropriations for Roads Pub. L. 102–154, title I, Nov. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 996, as amended by Pub. L. 106–291, title I, § 149(b), Oct. 11, 2000, 114 Stat. 956, provided in part that: “appropriations for maintenance and improvement of roads within the boundary of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park shall be available for such purposes without regard to whether title to such road rights-of-way is in the United States”.

§460ff–3 Administration