Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-110
§1781 California Desert Conservation Area
Title 43 › CHAPTER 35 — FEDERAL LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT › SUBCHAPTER VI — DESIGNATED MANAGEMENT AREAS › § 1781
Summary
Protect and manage the public lands of the California desert. Congress found these lands have special natural, cultural, and recreational resources, are fragile, and face growing threats from pollution and heavy use. The area is defined by a map dated April 1974, and the Secretary must file a revised map and legal description with the Senate and House Interior committees as soon as possible after October 21, 1976 and make them available to the public. The Secretary must write and begin to carry out a long‑range plan for managing, using, developing, and protecting these lands by September 30, 1980, using rules that allow many types of use while conserving resources. From October 21, 1976 until that plan starts, the Secretary must run an interim program to protect lands at risk, provide orderly public access (for example campgrounds and visitor centers), and create a uniformed desert ranger force. Existing mining laws still apply, but mining claims and any patents in the area must follow reasonable rules the Secretary sets to protect scenic, scientific, and environmental values and to prevent water pollution. Within 60 days after October 21, 1976 the Secretary must create an advisory committee to help with the plan. The Agriculture and Defense Departments must manage lands they control nearby in ways that fit these goals and work with the Interior Department, including cooperating on law enforcement to protect archaeological and other values. Up to $40,000,000 is authorized for fiscal years 1977 through 1981, and that money stays available until spent.
Full Legal Text
Title 43, §1781
Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Congressional findings
The Congress finds that—
(1)the California desert contains historical, scenic, archeological, environmental, biological, cultural, scientific, educational, recreational, and economic resources that are uniquely located adjacent to an area of large population;
(2)the California desert environment is a total ecosystem that is extremely fragile, easily scarred, and slowly healed;
(3)the California desert environment and its resources, including certain rare and endangered species of wildlife, plants, and fishes, and numerous archeological and historic sites, are seriously threatened by air pollution, inadequate Federal management authority, and pressures of increased use, particularly recreational use, which are certain to intensify because of the rapidly growing population of southern California;
(4)the use of all California desert resources can and should be provided for in a multiple use and sustained yield management plant to conserve these resources for future generations, and to provide present and future use and enjoyment, particularly outdoor recreation uses, including the use, where appropriate, of off-road recreational vehicles;
(5)the Secretary has initiated a comprehensive planning process and established an interim management program for the public lands in the California desert; and
(6)to insure further study of the relationship of man and the California desert environment, preserve the unique and irreplaceable resources, including archeological values, and conserve the use of the economic resources of the California desert, the public must be provided more opportunity to participate in such planning and management, and additional management authority must be provided to the Secretary to facilitate effective implementation of such planning and management.
(b)Statement of purpose
It is the purpose of this section to provide for the immediate and future protection and administration of the public lands in the California desert within the framework of a program of multiple use and sustained yield, and the maintenance of environmental quality.
(c)Description of Area
(1)For the purpose of this section, the term “California desert” means the area generally depicted on a map entitled “California Desert Conservation Area—Proposed” dated April 1974, and described as provided in subsection (c)(2).
(2)As soon as practicable after October 21, 1976, the Secretary shall file a revised map and a legal description of the California Desert Conservation Area with the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, and such map and description shall have the same force and effect as if included in this Act. Correction of clerical and typographical errors in such legal description and a map may be made by the Secretary. To the extent practicable, the Secretary shall make such legal description and map available to the public promptly upon request.
(d)Preparation and implementation of comprehensive long-range plan for management, use, etc.
The Secretary, in accordance with section 1712 of this title, shall prepare and implement a comprehensive, long-range plan for the management, use, development, and protection of the public lands within the California Desert Conservation Area. Such plan shall take into account the principles of multiple use and sustained yield in providing for resource use and development, including, but not limited to, maintenance of environmental quality, rights-of-way, and mineral development. Such plan shall be completed and implementation thereof initiated on or before September 30, 1980.
(e)Interim program for management, use, etc.
During the period beginning on October 21, 1976, and ending on the effective date of implementation of the comprehensive, long-range plan, the Secretary shall execute an interim program to manage, use, and protect the public lands, and their resources now in danger of destruction, in the California Desert Conservation Area, to provide for the public use of such lands in an orderly and reasonable manner such as through the development of campgrounds and visitor centers, and to provide for a uniformed desert ranger force.
(f)Applicability of mining laws
Subject to valid existing rights, nothing in this Act shall affect the applicability of the United States mining laws on the public lands within the California Desert Conservation Area, except that all mining claims located on public lands within the California Desert Conservation Area shall be subject to such reasonable regulations as the Secretary may prescribe to effectuate the purposes of this section. Any patent issued on any such mining claim shall recite this limitation and continue to be subject to such regulations. Such regulations shall provide for such measures as may be reasonable to protect the scenic, scientific, and environmental values of the public lands of the California Desert Conservation Area against undue impairment, and to assure against pollution of the streams and waters within the California Desert Conservation Area.
(g)Advisory Committee; establishment; functions
(1)The Secretary, within sixty days after October 21, 1976, shall establish a California Desert Conservation Area Advisory Committee (hereinafter referred to as “advisory committee”) in accordance with the provisions of section 1739 of this title.
(2)It shall be the function of the advisory committee to advise the Secretary with respect to the preparation and implementation of the comprehensive, long-range plan required under subsection (d) of this section.
(h)Management of lands under jurisdiction of Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Defense shall manage lands within their respective jurisdictions located in or adjacent to the California Desert Conservation Area, in accordance with the laws relating to such lands and wherever practicable, in a manner consonant with the purpose of this section. The Secretary, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Defense are authorized and directed to consult among themselves and take cooperative actions to carry out the provisions of this subsection, including a program of law enforcement in accordance with applicable authorities to protect the archeological and other values of the California Desert Conservation Area and adjacent lands.
(i)Omitted
(j)Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years 1977 through 1981 not to exceed $40,000,000 for the purpose of this section, such amount to remain available until expended.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
This Act, referred to in subsecs. (c)(2) and (f), is Pub. L. 94–579, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2743, known as the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. Codification Subsec. (i) of this section, which required the Secretary to report annually to Congress on the progress in, and any problems concerning, the implementation of this section, terminated, effective May 15, 2000, pursuant to section 3003 of Pub. L. 104–66, as amended, set out as a note under section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance. See, also, the last item on page 107 of House Document No. 103–7.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Change of Name
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the Senate, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), abolished and replaced by Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, effective Feb. 11, 1977. See Rule XXV of Standing Rules of the Senate, as amended by Senate Resolution No. 4 (popularly cited as the “Committee System Reorganization
Amendments
of 1977”), approved Feb. 4, 1977. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives changed to Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives on Jan. 5, 1993, by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Third Congress. Desert Lily Sanctuary Pub. L. 103–433, title I, § 107, Oct. 31, 1994, 108 Stat. 4483, provided that: “(a) Designation.—There is hereby established the Desert Lily Sanctuary within the California Desert Conservation Area, California, of the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately two thousand forty acres, as generally depicted on a map entitled ‘Desert Lily Sanctuary’, dated February 1986. The Secretary [of the Interior] shall administer the area to provide maximum protection to the desert lily. “(b) Withdrawal.—Subject to valid existing rights, all Federal lands within the Desert Lily Sanctuary are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; from location, entry, and patent under the United States mining laws; and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing, and mineral materials, and all
Amendments
thereto.” Dinosaur Trackway Area of Critical Environmental Concern Pub. L. 103–433, title I, § 108, Oct. 31, 1994, 108 Stat. 4483, provided that: “(a) Designation.—There is hereby established the Dinosaur Trackway Area of Critical Environmental Concern within the California Desert Conservation Area, of the Bureau of Land Management, comprising approximately five hundred and ninety acres as generally depicted on a map entitled ‘Dinosaur Trackway Area of Critical Environmental Concern’, dated July 1993. The Secretary [of the Interior] shall administer the area to preserve the paleontological resources within the area. “(b) Withdrawal.—Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal lands within and adjacent to the Dinosaur Trackway Area of Critical Environmental Concern, as generally depicted on a map entitled ‘Dinosaur Trackway Mineral Withdrawal Area’, dated July 1993, are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; from location, entry, and patent under the United States mining laws; and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing, and mineral materials, and all
Amendments
thereto.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
43 U.S.C. § 1781
Title 43, Public Lands
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110