16 U.S.C. § 79c — Acquisition of land

(a) The Secretary of the Interior can get land inside the park's boundaries, plus up to 10 acres outside the park for office or maintenance sites. The Secretary can get this land by gift, purchase, trade, or other means. But land owned by the State of California can only be acquired if the state donates it. The Secretary can accept a state donation even if it comes with old restrictions ("reverters") from before, plus new conditions that fit how the park is run. The Secretary can spend money to manage, build, and maintain permanent improvements on donated state land, as long as this fits those conditions. (b) This part deals with land the government took over directly, without buying it first. (1) Starting October 2, 1968, the United States automatically owned and could immediately take possession of all land inside the park's original boundaries (shown on two specific government maps). Starting March 27, 1978, the United States automatically owned and could immediately take possession of all land in the "Proposed Additions" area (shown on a specific 1978 map), plus any trees that had already been cut down in that area before January 1, 1975, or after January 31, 1978. This did not apply to land owned by the state or local governments, or to certain small landholdings covered in paragraph (3) below. The Secretary had to let people already working on this land wind down their operations in an orderly way and remove their equipment and property. Cut trees felled between December 31, 1974, and February 1, 1978, could be removed under existing state and federal rules and permits — unless the Secretary decided that removing them would hurt regrowing forest or cause too much sediment in Redwood Creek. Cut trees lying in streambeds could not be removed without the Secretary's permission. Any removal had to follow reasonable conditions the Secretary set to keep supplying raw material to Redwoods United, Incorporated, a nonprofit group in Manila, California. The Secretary had to let logging companies keep using certain acquired roads (the B line, L line, M line, and K and K roads) at their existing level of use, but only for forest and land management, timber harvesting, and road upkeep. The Secretary also had to let them keep using acquired parts of the Bald Hills road at existing levels — but the Secretary still kept the power to otherwise regulate that road. (2) The United States must pay fair ("just") compensation to anyone whose land was taken under paragraph (1). This money can come from: (A) the Treasury, paid from the Land and Water Conservation Fund once the Secretary certifies the agreed value or a court awards a value, plus 6% yearly interest from the date of taking until payment, subject to the overall spending cap in section 79j; (B) federally owned property offered in trade, if the owner agrees; or (C) any mix of the two. Lawsuits to recover this compensation must be filed in the federal district court where the land sits, no matter how much money is claimed. The United States can also start its own court case to get a judge to set the compensation, and can deposit the estimated amount with the court in advance; no extra interest is owed on money already deposited with the court. If the Secretary decides full ownership of some property isn't needed for the park, the Secretary can give back a lesser interest in it, on whatever conditions serve the park's purposes, and pay the former owner only for the value of what was kept back — except the Secretary cannot give back property for which the government already paid full compensation. The Secretary can also sell, at fair market value and without normal federal purchasing rules, cut timber that can be removed without harming the park; the money goes to the U.S. Treasury. If California sets aside a strip of land for a bypass highway around the east side of Prairie Creek Redwood State Park before October 1, 1984, the Secretary must acquire the needed land, attach conditions to protect the park, and then donate that land to California to build the new highway. That donated highway land counts as a "publicly owned highway" for purposes of section 79b(a), effective March 27, 1978. (3) This subsection only applies to properties of 50 acres or less if the land is used mainly for something other than living there or farming, and only if the Secretary notifies the owner within 60 days after October 2, 1968; that notice is treated as if it were given on October 2, 1968, itself. The federal district court for that area can hear claims for damages caused by this rule applying temporarily, between October 2, 1968, and the date the Secretary actually gave notice. Nothing here stops the Secretary from still acquiring these small properties under subsections (a) or (c). (c) If a piece of land is partly inside and partly outside the park's or the office site's boundaries, the Secretary can buy the whole piece to avoid paying extra "severance" damages, then trade away the part outside the boundaries for land inside the boundaries (or dispose of it under standard federal property-disposal rules). The cost of this land does not count against the spending limit set in section 79j. (d) The Secretary can also buy land on both sides of the highway between the south edge of Prairie Creek Redwood State Park and a point near the town of Orick, deep enough to keep or grow a screen of trees between the highway and the land and activities behind it. (e) To protect the park's timber, soil, and streams as much as reasonably possible, the Secretary can buy interests in land — or make contracts and cooperative agreements — with owners of land around the park's edges and in the watersheds that feed streams inside the park, so that logging, farming, and soil practices (or the lack of them) outside the park don't hurt what's inside it. "Interests in land" here does not include full ownership unless the Secretary finds that buying anything less than full ownership would cost disproportionately more. Before buying anything (other than by donation) or signing any contract or agreement under this part, the Secretary must first tell the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House what is planned and what it will cost and achieve. Starting March 27, 1978, money already set aside under section 79j (or provided later) can be used to buy these land interests. Starting October 1, 1978, Congress can appropriate whatever money is needed to carry out these contracts and agreements — and Congress specifically wants the Secretary to keep senior workers employed by these landowners and use them in restoration work as much as possible. Working with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary can also fund and staff programs — with federal agencies, California, local governments, nonprofits, businesses, or individuals — to restore areas in and above the park that are causing heavy sediment because of old logging and roads, in order to reduce damage near Redwood Creek and to help the local economy, but only to the extent Congress actually appropriates money for it in advance. These contracts and agreements must also protect the park generally, create jobs for people affected by the land takings, and help the economies of Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. The Secretary must study and publish reports on erosion and sedimentation in the Redwood Creek watershed, figure out how much is natural versus caused by people, and update the park's management plan based on those findings. The Secretary — or the Secretary of Agriculture, where appropriate — must also manage other federal land in that watershed to minimize sediment reaching the park, coordinated with the broader sediment-management plan for the area. To carry out this subsection and learn more about the redwood forest ecosystem, the Secretary can let designated government researchers access this land.