Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73not60
§696a Acquisition of Title to Properties for National Key Deer Refuge; Rights-of-way and Easements
Title 16 › Chapter 6— GAME AND BIRD PRESERVES; PROTECTION › § 696a
Summary
The Secretary of the Interior may spend money and take steps to secure clear title to lands needed under sections 696–696b, including costs to locate, examine, survey, and buy them. No payment may be made until the Attorney General approves the title. Lands can be acquired even if there are rights-of-way, easements, exceptions, or reservations, as long as the Secretary finds they will not materially interfere with the land’s use under those sections.
Full Legal Text
Title 16, §696a
Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
In furtherance of the aforesaid purposes, the Secretary may take such action and make such expenditures as he shall find to be necessary in order to secure satisfactory title in the United States to such properties, including the payment of expenses incidental to the location, examination, and survey of such lands and the acquisition of title thereto; but no payment shall be made for any such lands until the title thereto shall be satisfactory to the Attorney General: Provided, That the acquisition of such lands or interests therein by the United States shall in no case be defeated because of rights-of-ways, easements, exceptions, and reservations which, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, will not interfere materially with the use of such properties for the purposes of sections 696 to 696b of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 696a
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60