Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-110

§31e Geologic Mapping Program 5-year Plan

Title 43 › CHAPTER 2 — UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY › § 31e

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary, through the Director and with advice and review from the advisory committee, must create a 5-year plan for the geologic mapping program. The plan must say the program’s main priorities and explain how it will be run. It must spell out the Survey’s lead role in making a national program that meets Federal needs while supporting State needs, and it must explain the responsibilities of State geological surveys. The plan must set ways to pick short- and long-term priorities for the Federal, State, and education parts of the program. For the Federal part, priorities must meet Federal mission needs, address key scientific problems that need maps, and cover shared Federal‑State projects of national interest. For the State part, priorities must meet inside-State and shared interstate needs. For education, priorities must meet Federal and State mission needs for map information. The plan must also include a process for adopting technical mapping standards to keep maps consistent and quality-checkable, and a way to track published and current mapping work nationwide to help planning and avoid duplicate efforts.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §31e

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general
The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall, with the advice and review of the advisory committee, prepare a 5-year plan for the geologic mapping program.
(b)Requirements
The 5-year plan shall identify—
(1)overall priorities for the geologic mapping program; and
(2)implementation of the overall management structure and operation of the geologic mapping program, including—
(A)the role of the Survey in the capacity of overall management lead, including the responsibility for developing the national geologic mapping program that meets Federal needs while fostering State needs;
(B)the responsibilities of the State geological surveys, with emphasis on mechanisms that incorporate the needs, missions, capabilities, and requirements of the State geological surveys, into the nationwide geologic mapping program;
(C)mechanisms for identifying short- and long-term priorities for each component of the geologic mapping program, including—
(i)for the Federal component, a priority-setting mechanism that responds to—
(I)Federal mission requirements for geologic map information;
(II)critical scientific problems that require geologic maps for their resolution; and
(III)shared Federal and State needs for geologic maps, in which joint Federal-State geologic mapping projects are in the national interest;
(ii)for the State component, a priority-setting mechanism that responds to—
(I)specific intrastate needs for geologic map information; and
(II)interstate needs shared by adjacent States that have common requirements; and
(iii)for the education component, a priority-setting mechanism that responds to requirements for geologic map information that are dictated by Federal and State mission requirements;
(D)a mechanism for adopting scientific and technical mapping standards for preparing and publishing general- and special-purpose geologic maps to—
(i)ensure uniformity of cartographic and scientific conventions; and
(ii)provide a basis for assessing the comparability and quality of map products; and
(E)a mechanism for monitoring the inventory of published and current mapping investigations nationwide to facilitate planning and information exchange and to avoid redundancy.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 31e, Pub. L. 102–285, § 6, May 18, 1992, 106 Stat. 170; Pub. L. 105–36, § 3(d), Aug. 5, 1997, 111 Stat. 1110, provided for the preparation of a geologic mapping program implementation plan, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 106–148, § 6, Dec. 9, 1999, 113 Stat. 1722.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 31e

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110