Title 16 › CHAPTER 1 — NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › SUBCHAPTER XCV — SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA › § 460kk
Creates the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and requires the Secretary of the Interior to manage it so its scenic, natural, historic, and public-health values are protected while still allowing recreation and education. Congress found the area has important scenic, recreational, scientific, archeological, and health benefits, that it is in the national interest to protect them, and that California and local governments have power to help protect the area. The recreation area is defined by a boundary map (number 80,047–C, dated August 2001) and the Secretary may make small boundary changes after telling certain Congressional committees and publishing the change. The Secretary must begin buying or otherwise acquiring lands inside the boundary not later than ninety days after November 10, 1978, using donations, purchases, transfers, exchanges, or other means. State or local lands are generally taken only by donation, with limited exceptions; some areas may be acquired only by donation. Federal property within the boundary can be transferred to the Secretary without cost. The law also authorizes a land exchange with the City of Los Angeles (including an easement for a water pipeline) and directs transfer of the site known as Nike Site 78 to the Secretary while allowing Los Angeles County to keep using part of it for fire training until it gives it up. Within six months after November 10, 1978, the Secretary must identify lands that need public ownership for things like beaches, streams, park connections, scenic corridors (including Mulholland), and trails. By January 1, 1980, the Secretary must give Congress a plan showing those lands, lands already acquired, a five-year acquisition program, and a final boundary map. “Improved property” means certain single-family homes begun before January 1, 1978, and agricultural property used before that date; owners of such property may keep a right to live or farm there for up to 25 years or for life, with fair payment rules and limits if the right is abused. The Secretary must consider hardship sale offers, run the area under National Park rules with low-intensity protection of fragile areas, may make cooperative agreements for rescue, fire, and law enforcement, and may accept donations. An Advisory Commission is created (ending ten years after the park is set up) with members appointed by the Governor, the mayor of Los Angeles, county supervisors, and nine members appointed by the Secretary. The Commission must report to the Secretary by January 1, 1981; the Secretary must report to Congress by January 1, 1982. The Secretary must ask the local Planning Commission to submit a comprehensive plan that protects scenic and air-quality values and includes a minimum land-acquisition program and transportation options; the Secretary must consult the EPA on air-quality effects before approving the plan. Authorized appropriations for land acquisition are $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1979, $40,000,000 for 1980, $45,000,000 for 1981, $10,000,000 for 1982, and $15,000,000 for 1983. Grants to the State are authorized up to $10,000,000 for 1979, $10,000,000 for 1980, $5,000,000 for 1981, and $5,000,000 for 1982. Up to $500,000 is authorized for essential public facilities. Within two years of establishment the Secretary must send Congress a general management plan showing visitor needs, facility locations and costs, future facility needs, any needed boundary changes, and plans to protect fragile and historic resources.
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Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 460kk
Title 16, Conservation
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110