16 U.S.C. § 670h — Comprehensive plans for conservation and rehabilitation programs
submitted 52 years ago by Pub. L. 86-797 to r/title-16-CONSERVATION · 1,106 words · no verdicts yet
The Interior and Agriculture Secretaries must prepare comprehensive conservation plans, and State agencies may make agreements to carry them out on public lands. The section lists required agreement terms, State-law rules for hunting, public-use controls, and the treatment of these agreements under other law.
(a) Plans. The Interior Secretary, consulting State agencies, must prepare a comprehensive plan for conservation and rehabilitation programs* on public land* under Interior jurisdiction; the Agriculture Secretary must do the same for Agriculture land. The Interior Secretary must also prepare plans for land under the Chairman’s jurisdiction with the Atomic Energy Commission’s prior written approval and for land under the Administrator’s jurisdiction with the Administrator’s prior written approval. Before doing so, with the required approval and in consultation with State agencies, the Interior Secretary must study and survey the land to find where programs are most needed. (b) Consistency and hunting. Each plan must fit the overall land-use and management plans for the land. If the plan permits hunting, trapping, or fishing for resident fish and wildlife, those activities must follow the State’s applicable laws and regulations. (c) State agreements. A State agency* may make an agreement with the Interior Secretary, Agriculture Secretary, or Interior Secretary and the Chairman* or Administrator* for programs on their respective public lands. The required prior written approvals apply to agreements affecting the Chairman’s or Administrator’s land. Programs under this subchapter supplement, rather than limit or replace, other wildlife, fish, and game programs. This subchapter does not limit Interior or Agriculture authority to manage national forests or other public lands under the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act or other authority. (2) A program may be changed by mutual agreement. The same prior approvals are required for changes affecting the Chairman’s or Administrator’s land. (3) Each agreement must identify covered areas; provide habitat improvements or changes; provide range rehabilitation where needed; protect federally or State-classified threatened, rare, or endangered fish and wildlife; control off-road vehicles; and, if stamps are agreed under § 670i, include § 670i(b) terms, require accurate records and annual fee reports, and allow Secretary and Comptroller General audits. It must include other terms the parties find necessary. It may authorize State officers to enforce or help enforce § 670j(a). (4) Unless a plan or agreement limits them, hunting, fishing, and trapping of resident fish and wildlife are permitted under State law on covered public land. (5) The responsible Secretary must issue regulations controlling public use consistently with the plan and agreement. (d) Agreements made by State agencies under this section are not cooperative agreements under 31 U.S.C. chapter 63.
The Secretary of the Interior shall develop, in consultation with the State agencies, a comprehensive plan for conservation and rehabilitation programs* to be implemented on public land* under his jurisdiction and the Secretary of Agriculture shall do the same in connection with public land under his jurisdiction.
The Secretary of the Interior shall develop, with the prior written approval of the Atomic Energy Commission, a comprehensive plan for conservation and rehabilitation programs to be implemented on public land under the jurisdiction of the Chairman* and develop, with the prior written approval of the Administrator*, a comprehensive plan for such programs to be implemented on public land under the jurisdiction of the Administrator. Each such plan shall be developed after the Secretary of the Interior makes, with the prior written approval of the Chairman or the Administrator, as the case may be, and in consultation with the State agencies, necessary studies and surveys of the land concerned to determine where conservation and rehabilitation programs are most needed.
Each comprehensive plan developed pursuant to this section shall be consistent with any overall land use and management plans for the lands involved. In any case in which hunting, trapping, or fishing (or any combination thereof) of resident fish and wildlife is to be permitted on public land under a comprehensive plan, such hunting, trapping, and fishing shall be conducted in accordance with applicable laws and regulations of the State in which such land is located.
Each State agency* may enter into a cooperative agreement with—
the Secretary of the Interior with respect to those conservation and rehabilitation programs to be implemented under this subchapter within the State on public land which is under his jurisdiction;
the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to those conservation and rehabilitation programs to be implemented under this subchapter within the State on public land which is under his jurisdiction; and
the Secretary of the Interior and the Chairman or the Administrator, as the case may be, with respect to those conservation and rehabilitation programs to be implemented under this subchapter within the State on public land under the jurisdiction of the Chairman or the Administrator; except that before entering into any cooperative agreement which affects public land under the jurisdiction of the Chairman, the Secretary of the Interior shall obtain the prior written approval of the Atomic Energy Commission and before entering into any cooperative agreement which affects public lands under the jurisdiction of the Administrator, the Secretary of the Interior shall obtain the prior written approval of the Administrator.
Conservation and rehabilitation programs developed and implemented pursuant to this subchapter shall be deemed as supplemental to wildlife, fish, and game-related programs conducted by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to other provisions of law. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as limiting the authority of the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as the case may be, to manage the national forests or other public lands for wildlife and fish and other purposes in accordance with the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 (74 Stat. 215; 16 U.S.C. 528–531) or other applicable authority.
Any conservation and rehabilitation program included within a cooperative agreement entered into under this subsection may be modified in a manner mutually agreeable to the State agency and the Secretary concerned (and the Chairman or the Administrator, as the case may be, if public land under his jurisdiction is involved). Before modifying any cooperative agreement which affects public land under the jurisdiction of the Chairman, the Secretary of the Interior shall obtain the prior written approval of the Atomic Energy Commission and before modifying any cooperative agreement which affects public land under the jurisdiction of the Administrator, the Secretary of the Interior shall obtain the prior written approval of the Administrator.
Each cooperative agreement entered into under this subsection shall—
specify those areas of public land within the State on which conservation and rehabilitation programs will be implemented;
provide for fish and wildlife habitat improvements or modifications, or both;
provide for range rehabilitation where necessary for support of wildlife;
provide adequate protection for fish and wildlife officially classified as threatened or endangered pursuant to section 1533 of this title or considered to be threatened, rare, or endangered by the State agency;
require the control of off-road vehicle* traffic;
if the issuance of public land area management stamps is agreed to pursuant to section 670i(a) of this title—
contain such terms and conditions as are required under section 670i(b) of this title;
require the maintenance of accurate records and the filing of annual reports by the State agency to the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, or both, as the case may be, setting forth the amount and disposition of the fees collected for such stamps; and
authorize the Secretary concerned and the Comptroller General of the United States, or their authorized representatives, to have access to such records for purposes of audit and examination; and
contain such other terms and conditions as the Secretary concerned and the State agency deem necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.
A cooperative agreement may also provide for arrangements under which the Secretary concerned may authorize officers and employees of the State agency to enforce, or to assist in the enforcement of, section 670j(a) of this title.
Except where limited under a comprehensive plan or pursuant to cooperative agreement, hunting, fishing, and trapping shall be permitted with respect to resident fish and wildlife in accordance with applicable laws and regulations of the State in which such land is located on public land which is the subject of a conservation and rehabilitation program implemented under this subchapter.
The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, as the case may be, shall prescribe such regulations as are deemed necessary to control, in a manner consistent with the applicable comprehensive plan and cooperative agreement, the public use of public land which is the subject of any conservation and rehabilitation program implemented by him under this subchapter.
Agreements entered into by State agencies under the authority of this section shall not be deemed to be, or treated as, cooperative agreements to which chapter 63 of title 31 applies.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 86–797, title II, § 202, as added Pub. L. 93–452, § 2, Oct. 18, 1974, 88 Stat. 1369; amended Pub. L. 97–396, § 4, Dec. 31, 1982, 96 Stat. 2005; Pub. L. 112–81, div. A, title III, § 312(b)(8), Dec. 31, 2011, 125 Stat. 1354.)
- 1974Enacted · Pub. L. 86-797 · 88 Stat. 1369
- 1982Amended · Pub. L. 97-396 · 96 Stat. 2005
- 2011Amended · Pub. L. 112-81 · 125 Stat. 1354
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 86-797 on 1974-10-18.
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