16 U.S.C. § 460aaa–2 — Administration

(a) Subject to existing legal rights, the Secretary of Agriculture manages the recreation area under the same laws, rules, and regulations that apply to the National Forest System generally, in support of why the area was created. (b) The recreation area also follows these special rules: (1) Owners of privately owned land and homes inside the recreation area must be allowed to cross National Forest System land to reach their property, under terms the Secretary sets to protect threatened and endangered species and other natural, cultural, and scenic values. (2) The Secretary must keep up traditional public access — including roads for camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and trapping — consistent with the recreation area's management plan. (3) The Secretary must allow snowmobiles on federal land in the recreation area, under normal Forest Service rules and the management plan, regulated to minimize harm to the area's resources. (4) Timber can only be cut to improve public recreation, scenic quality, and wildlife (game and non-game), and to protect threatened, endangered, or sensitive species. Trees damaged by fire, insects, disease, or wind can be used, salvaged, or removed if the Secretary allows it, to further the area's purposes. (5) Once the Secretary has bought at least 10,000 acres on Grand Island, the Secretary must provide reasonable boat transportation from the mainland to the island — by concession, permit, or other means, with a reasonable fee allowed. This service is regulated by the Secretary and isn't required when the Secretary decides it would be unsafe, such as due to weather or water conditions. (6) The Secretary must provide docking and lodge facilities, by concession, permit, or other means, consistent with the management plan. (7) The Secretary must take reasonable steps to protect public health, safety, and the recreation area itself in case of fire or insect or disease outbreaks. (8) Under a 1915 law, when the government buys a privately owned home in the recreation area, the Secretary must issue the previous owner an occupancy and use permit. Each permit lasts 20 years and renews for more 20-year periods as long as the permit holder follows the recreation area's purposes, the permit's terms, and other applicable rules. These permits follow normal Forest Service rules, except for these special conditions: (A) only the home's owner as of the government's purchase date, that owner's spouse, children, stepchildren, grandchildren, and their direct descendants can hold the permit; (B) only noncommercial recreational use is allowed, not commercial use; (C) the Secretary must charge yearly fees based on the occupancy's fair market value; (D) any expansion, remodeling, or rebuilding needs the Secretary's approval, cannot make the structure taller, and cannot grow its total exterior size by more than 25 percent compared to how it was on May 17, 1990, and must follow related criteria and any other conditions the Secretary sets; (E) the Secretary may buy the home's structure and improvements at fair market value if the owner is willing to sell; (F) the permit can be ended anytime for breaking its terms or applicable rules, at no cost to the federal government; and (G) if the owner doesn't remove any improvements or property within a year after the permit ends, those become federal property. (9) Solely for figuring certain federal payments to local governments under section 6904 of title 31, any land on Grand Island the United States buys after January 1, 1990 is treated as if it were bought to add to a National Forest Wilderness Area.