§100506 Boundary Changes to System Units

Summary

Keep and use clear rules to decide if park or other System unit borders should change. The Secretary must check if the current border protects the unit’s natural, historic, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources. Each parcel suggested for addition or removal must be evaluated. The Secretary must also study how a change would affect the local area and consider the factors listed in section 100505(c)(3). Before proposing a change, the Secretary must talk with state and local agencies, nearby communities, affected landowners, and relevant organizations. The proposal must use the rules above and include a short report of the results, an estimate of the cost to buy any lands, how that estimate was made, and the priority for buying each parcel. For minor changes, after telling the Committee on Natural Resources of the House and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and publishing a revised map, the Secretary may change a boundary and may add nearby land by donation, purchase with donated funds, transfer, or exchange. The Secretary must not trade away park property to get land, must have owner consent to acquire property, and may get State-owned land only by donation. The Secretary must consult the local taxing jurisdiction, work to inform the public, and manage any added lands under the unit’s laws. For most non-technical minor boundary changes, all these must be true: added plus removed acreage is not more than 5% of the unit’s federal acreage and is under 200 acres; the action is not a major federal action affecting the environment; the combined appraised value is $750,000 or less; it is not part of a bigger proposal; there was a public review; the Director has written consent from all affected owners; and the added land touches other federal land the Director manages. Any minor change that only deletes federally owned acreage managed by the Service must be done by an Act of Congress.