23 U.S.C. § 206 — Recreational trails program

(a) Definitions. (1) Motorized recreation means off-road recreation using a motor-powered vehicle, except a motorized wheelchair. (2) Recreational trail means a path across land or snow used for recreation, such as (A) walking or wheelchair use; (B) skating or skateboarding; (C) horseback riding, including carriage driving; (D) nonmotorized snow activities like skiing; (E) biking or other human-powered vehicles; (F) water activities; and (G) motorized activities like ATV riding, motorcycling, snowmobiling, or off-road trucks and other off-road motor vehicles. (b) Program. Working with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary must run a program to provide and maintain recreational trails. (c) State Responsibilities. To get funding under this section, a state must (1) have its Governor name the state agency responsible for administering the funds, and (2) set up a state recreational trail advisory committee representing both motorized and nonmotorized users, meeting at least once a year. (d) Use of Apportioned Funds. (1) A state's funds must go to trail projects that (A) were planned and developed under the state's own laws and procedures, and (B) match a recreational trail plan or a required statewide outdoor recreation plan that's currently in effect. (2) States may use their funds for: (A) maintaining and restoring existing trails; (B) building and fixing trailside and trailhead facilities and trail connections; (C) buying or leasing trail construction and maintenance equipment; (D) building new trails — though new trails on federal land must be legal under other law, recommended by the state's outdoor recreation plan, approved by the state's designated agency, and approved by the federal agency in charge of that land (which must itself follow environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act); (E) buying easements or full ownership of land for trails or trail corridors; (F) checking trail conditions for accessibility and upkeep needs; (G) publishing materials and running education programs on trail safety and environmental protection, plus non-law-enforcement safety patrols and trail-use monitoring and training — capped at 5 percent of the state's yearly funding; and (H) paying the state's own costs of running the program — capped at 7 percent of the state's yearly funding. (3) Use of apportionments. Except as (B) and (C) below allow: (A) 40 percent of a state's funds must go to projects serving diverse trail use — whether that means diverse motorized use, diverse nonmotorized use, or a mix of both; (B) states with less than 3,500,000 acres of land are excused from the following split; (C) otherwise, 30 percent must go to motorized recreation uses and 30 percent to nonmotorized recreation uses; and state administrative costs allowed under paragraph (2)(H) don't count toward this split. (4) Grants. A state may use its funds to make grants to private groups and to municipal, county, state, and federal agencies, after considering advice from its trail advisory committee, for purposes that fit this section. A state that makes such grants must set up ways to check that recipients follow the program's rules. (e) Environmental Benefit or Mitigation. Where practical, and consistent with this section's other rules, a state should favor project proposals that redesign, rebuild, do extra maintenance on, or relocate trails in ways that help the natural environment or reduce harm to it. (f) Federal Share. (1) Generally, the federal government's share of a project's cost, and of a state's administrative costs, follows section 120(b). (2) A federal agency that sponsors a project may add its own federal funds toward the cost — but the Secretary of Transportation's share still can't exceed the section 120(b) amount, and the combined share from the Secretary and the sponsoring agency can't exceed 95 percent of the project's cost. (3) The state's non-federal cost share may include money from other federal programs, as long as it's spent according to that program's own rules and on a project this section allows. (4) Money from this section may likewise be used to help meet the matching-share requirement of other federal programs, under the same conditions. (5) A state may adjust the non-federal share of an individual project in a year, as long as the federal share of all its projects that year (not counting ones funded under paragraph (2) or (3)) doesn't exceed what section 120(b) allows. (g) Uses Not Permitted. A state may not use its funds to: (1) condemn any property interest; (2) build a motorized trail on National Forest System land unless the land is designated (or released by Congress) for uses other than wilderness, and the trail fits the forest's approved management plan; (3) build a motorized trail on Bureau of Land Management land under the same kind of conditions — designated or released for non-wilderness use, and consistent with the approved management plan; or (4) upgrade, expand, or otherwise open motorized access on trails mainly used by nonmotorized users where, as of May 1, 1991, motorized use was banned or hadn't happened. (h) Project Administration. (1) A project sponsor may donate funds, materials, services, or new right-of-way for an eligible project; the value gets credited to the non-federal share. A federal sponsor's donation gets credited to the federal agency's share instead. The Secretary may also credit planning and environmental-review costs toward the non-federal share, but only for costs incurred less than 18 months before project approval. (2) A project funded here is meant to boost recreation and is not subject to section 138 of this title or section 303 of title 49. (3) At a state's option, its funds under this section can count as Land and Water Conservation Fund apportionments for purposes of section 200305(f)(3) of title 54. (4) Before using funds for trail work that affects privately owned land, a state must get the landowner's written promise to cooperate and take part as needed. Any use of these funds on private land must come with an easement or other binding agreement guaranteeing the public access to the trail work that was funded. (i) Contract Authority. Money authorized for this section is available for obligation the same way funds apportioned under chapter 1 are, except that the federal cost share follows this section's own rules instead. (j) Use of Other Apportioned Funds. If a state uses funds apportioned to it under section 104(b) for a recreational trail project, those funds are administered as though they had been provided under this section.