16 U.S.C. § 698: Big Thicket National Preserve

Summary

Creates the Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas to protect its natural, scenic, and recreational values and to let the public enjoy them. The preserve follows the units shown on the map titled “Big Thicket National Preserve,” dated October 1992, number 175–80008, kept by the National Park Service and the preserve superintendent. The Secretary of the Interior may make small boundary changes after telling the Senate and House natural resource committees and by publishing a revised map or description in the Federal Register. The Secretary must publish a detailed boundary description in the Federal Register no later than six months after October 11, 1974. Stream corridor boundaries must be placed from the stream bank and the Secretary must try to leave out year‑round homes that are not needed for protection or management. The preserve includes these units and acreages: Big Sandy Creek (about 14,300 acres); Menard Creek Corridor (about 3,359 acres); Hickory Creek Savannah (about 668 acres); Turkey Creek (about 7,800 acres); Beech Creek (about 4,856 acres); Upper Neches River corridor including Sally Withers Addition (about 3,775 acres); Neches Bottom and Jack Gore Baygall (about 13,300 acres); Lower Neches River corridor except a one‑mile east‑side segment near the Evandale papermill (about 2,600 acres); Beaumont unit (about 6,218 acres); Loblolly (about 550 acres); Little Pine Island–Pine Island Bayou corridor (about 2,100 acres); Lance Rosier (about 25,024 acres); Village Creek Corridor (about 4,793 acres); Big Sandy Corridor (about 4,497 acres); and Canyonlands (about 1,476 acres). The Secretary may get land inside the preserve by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, transfer from another federal agency, or exchange. Private lands inside Village Creek Corridor, Big Sandy Corridor, and Canyonlands may be bought only if the owner agrees. Lands owned by commercial timber companies may be taken only by donation or exchange. State or local government lands may be taken only by donation. The Secretary may also acquire about 15 acres outside the preserve near the US Highway 69 and State Farm‑Market Road 420 intersection in Hardin County for a visitor and admin site. With written notice to the congressional committees and a Federal Register notice, the Secretary may accept donated lands outside the boundaries and run them as part of the preserve. Federally owned lands inside the preserve can be placed under the Secretary’s control for preserve purposes if the other agency head agrees and without moving funds. Within 60 days after July 1, 1993, the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture must identify lands they could swap for commercial timber lands in the preserve, aiming for National Forest lands in Sabine County’s Sabine National Forest, the Davy Crockett National Forest south of Texas State Highway 7, or other agreed sites near mills. Exchanges must be equal in value, done with standard exchange rules, completed no later than five years after July 1, 1993, and the Secretary must consider independent appraisals owners submit. The exchange authority ends on July 1, 1998. The Secretary may not take the 37‑acre Indian Springs Youth Camp area (owned by Louisiana‑Pacific Corporation or Kirby Forest Industries, H.G. King Abstract 822) without the owner’s consent while it is used only as a youth camp.

Title 16, §698

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Establishment

In order to assure the preservation, conservation, and protection of the natural, scenic, and recreational values of a significant portion of the Big Thicket area in the State of Texas and to provide for the enhancement and public enjoyment thereof, the Big Thicket National Preserve is hereby established.

(b)Location; boundaries; publication in Federal Register

The Big Thicket National Preserve (hereafter referred to as the “preserve”) shall include the units generally depicted on the map entitled “Big Thicket National Preserve”, dated October 1992, and numbered 175–80008, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the offices of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and the offices of the Superintendent of the preserve. After advising the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the United States House of Representatives, in writing, the Secretary of the Interior (hereafter referred to as the “Secretary”) may make minor revisions of the boundaries of the preserve when necessary by publication of a revised drawing or other boundary description in the Federal Register. The Secretary shall, as soon as practicable, but no later than six months after October 11, 1974, publish a detailed description of the boundaries of the preserve in the Federal Register. In establishing such boundaries, the Secretary shall locate stream corridor unit boundaries referenced from the stream bank on each side thereof and he shall further make every reasonable effort to exclude from the units hereafter described any improved year-round residential properties which he determines, in his discretion, are not necessary for the protection of the values of the area or for its proper administration. The preserve shall consist of the following units: Big Sandy Creek unit, Polk County, Texas, comprising approximately fourteen thousand three hundred acres; Menard Creek Corridor unit, Polk, Hardin, and Liberty Counties, Texas, including a module at its confluence with the Trinity River, comprising approximately three thousand three hundred and fifty-nine acres; Hickory Creek Savannah unit, Tyler County, Texas, comprising approximately six hundred and sixty-eight acres; Turkey Creek unit, Tyler and Hardin Counties, Texas, comprising approximately seven thousand eight hundred acres; Beech Creek unit, Tyler County, Texas, comprising approximately four thousand eight hundred and fifty-six acres; Upper Neches River corridor unit, Jasper, Tyler, and Hardin Counties, Texas, including the Sally Withers Addition, comprising approximately three thousand seven hundred and seventy-five acres; Neches Bottom and Jack Gore Baygall unit, Hardin and Jasper Counties, Texas, comprising approximately thirteen thousand three hundred acres; Lower Neches River corridor unit, Hardin, Jasper, and Orange Counties, Texas, except for a one-mile segment on the east side of the river including the site of the papermill near Evandale, comprising approximately two thousand six hundred acres; Beaumont unit, Orange, Hardin, and Jefferson Counties, Texas, comprising approximately six thousand two hundred and eighteen acres; Loblolly unit, Liberty County, Texas, comprising approximately five hundred and fifty acres; Little Pine Island-Pine Island Bayou corridor unit, Hardin and Jefferson Counties, Texas, comprising approximately two thousand one hundred acres; Lance Rosier Unit, Hardin County, Texas, comprising approximately twenty-five thousand and twenty-four acres; Village Creek Corridor unit, Hardin County, Texas, comprising approximately four thousand seven hundred and ninety-three acres; Big Sandy Corridor unit, Hardin, Polk, and Tyler Counties, Texas, comprising approximately four thousand four hundred and ninety-seven acres; and Canyonlands unit, Tyler County, Texas, comprising approximately one thousand four hundred and seventy-six acres.

(c)Methods of acquisition of land (d) Exchanges of land (e) Indian Springs Youth Camp

The Secretary is authorized to acquire by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, transfer from any other Federal agency, or exchange, any lands, waters, or interests therein which are located within the boundaries of the preserve: Provided, That privately owned lands located within the Village Creek Corridor, Big Sandy Corridor, and Canyonlands units may be acquired only with the consent of the owner: Provided further, That the Secretary may acquire lands owned by commercial timber companies only by donation or exchange: Provided further, That any lands owned by the State of Texas, or any political subdivisions thereof may be acquired by donation only. The Secretary may also acquire, by any of the above methods, approximately 15 acres of land outside of the boundaries of the preserve in the vicinity of the intersection of United States Highway 69 and State Farm-Market Road 420, in Hardin County, Texas, for purposes of a visitor contact and administrative site. After notifying the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, in writing, of his intention to do so and of the reasons therefor, the Secretary may, if he finds that such lands would make a significant contribution to the purposes for which the preserve was created, accept title to any lands, or interests in lands, located outside of the boundaries of the preserve which the State of Texas or its political subdivisions may acquire and offer to donate to the United States or which any private person, organization, or public or private corporation may offer to donate to the United States and he may administer such lands as a part of the preserve after publishing notice to that effect in the Federal Register. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any federally owned lands within the preserve shall, with the concurrence of the head of the administering agency, be transferred to the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary for the purposes of sections 698 to 698e of this title, without transfer of funds.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104–333 substituted “five years after

July 1, 1993” for “two years after

July 1, 1993” and inserted at end “The Secretary, in considering the values of the private lands to be exchanged under this subsection, shall consider independent appraisals submitted by the owners of the private lands. The authority to exchange lands under this subsection shall expire on

July 1, 1998.” 1994—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–437 substituted “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives” for “Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States Congress”. 1993—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–46, § 2(a), substituted “map entitled ‘Big Thicket National Preserve’, dated October 1992, and numbered 175–80008, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the offices of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and the offices of the Superintendent of the preserve. After advising the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the United States House of Representatives, in writing, the Secretary of the Interior (hereafter referred to as the ‘Secretary’) may make minor revisions of the boundaries of the preserve when necessary by publication of a revised drawing or other boundary description in the Federal Register. The Secretary” for “map entitled ‘Big Thicket National Preserve’, dated November 1973 and numbered NBR–BT 91,027 which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the offices of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Washington, District of Columbia, and shall be filed with appropriate offices of Tyler, Hardin, Jasper, Polk, Liberty, Jefferson, and Orange Counties in the State of Texas. The Secretary of the Interior (hereafter referred to as the ‘Secretary’)” and added undesignated pars. relating to Village Creek Corridor unit, Big Sandy Corridor unit, and Canyonlands unit. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–46, § 2(b)(1), inserted first sentence and struck out former first sentence which read as follows: “The Secretary is authorized to acquire by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, transfer from any other Federal agency, or exchange, any lands, waters, or interests therein which are located within the boundaries of the preserve: Provided, That any lands owned or acquired by the State of Texas, or any of its political subdivisions, may be acquired by donation only.” Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 103–46, § 2(b)(2), added subsecs. (d) and (e). 1984—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–489 authorized acquisition of acreage for a visitor contact and administrative site outside the boundaries of the preserve.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

of 1993 Amendment Pub. L. 103–46, § 1,

July 1, 1993, 107 Stat. 229, provided that: “This Act [amending this section and section 698e of this title and enacting provisions set out as a note below] may be referred to as the ‘Big Thicket National Preserve Addition Act of 1993’.” Reporting Requirement Pub. L. 104–333, div. I, title III, § 306(d), Nov. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 4132, as amended by Pub. L. 106–176, title I, § 104(1), Mar. 10, 2000, 114 Stat. 25, provided that: “Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 12, 1996] and every 6 months thereafter until the earlier of the consummation of the exchange or

July 1, 1998, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall each submit a report to the Committee on Resources [now Committee on Natural Resources] of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate concerning the progress in consummating the land exchange authorized by the

Amendments

made by the Big Thicket National Preserve Addition Act of 1993 (Public Law 103–46) [see

Short Title

of 1993 Amendment note above].” Land Exchange Pub. L. 104–333, div. I, title III, § 306(e)–(g), Nov. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 4132, as amended by Pub. L. 106–176, title I, § 104(2), Mar. 10, 2000, 114 Stat. 25, provided that: “(e) Land Exchange in Liberty County, Texas.—If, within one year after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 12, 1996]—“(1) the owners of the private lands described in subsection (f)(1) offer to transfer all their right, title, and interest in and to such lands to the Secretary of the Interior, and “(2) Liberty County, Texas, agrees to accept the transfer of the Federal lands described in subsection (f)(2), the Secretary shall accept such offer of private lands and, in exchange and without additional consideration, transfer to Liberty County, Texas, all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the Federal lands described in subsection (f)(2). “(f) Lands Described.—“(1) Private lands.—The private lands described in this paragraph are approximately 3.76 acres of lands located in Liberty County, Texas, as generally depicted on the map entitled ‘Big Thicket Lake Estates Access—Proposed’. “(2) Federal lands.—The Federal lands described in this paragraph are approximately 2.38 acres of lands located in the Menard Creek Corridor Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve, as generally depicted on the map referred to in paragraph (1). “(g) Administration of Lands Acquired by the United States.—The lands acquired by the Secretary under subsection (e) shall be added to and administered as part of the Menard Creek Corridor Unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve.” Publication of Boundary Description Pub. L. 103–46, § 1,

July 1, 1993, 107 Stat. 230, provided that: “Not later than six months after the date of enactment of this subsection [

July 1, 1993], the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a detailed description of the boundary of the Village Creek Corridor unit, the Big Sandy Corridor unit, and the Canyonlands unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve.”

§698 Big Thicket National Preserve

Summary

Title 16, §698

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Amendments

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