U.S. Code » Title 16 » Chapter CHAPTER 27— NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM

16 U.S.C. § 1243

National recreation trails; establishment and designation; prerequisites

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 16 CasesGoogle Scholar
(a) The Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of Agriculture where lands administered by him are involved, may establish and designate national recreation trails, with the consent of the Federal agency, State, or political subdivision having jurisdiction over the lands involved, upon finding that—(i) such trails are reasonably accessible to urban areas, and, or(ii) such trails meet the criteria established in this chapter and such supplementary criteria as he may prescribe.(b) As provided in this section, trails within park, forest, and other recreation areas administered by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture or in other federally administered areas may be established and designated as “National Recreation Trails” by the appropriate Secretary and, when no Federal land acquisition is involved—(i) trails in or reasonably accessible to urban areas may be designated as “National Recreation Trails” by the appropriate Secretary with the consent of the States, their political subdivisions, or other appropriate administering agencies;(ii) trails within park, forest, and other recreation areas owned or administered by States may be designated as “National Recreation Trails” by the appropriate Secretary with the consent of the State; and(iii) trails on privately owned lands may be designated “National Recreation Trails” by the appropriate Secretary with the written consent of the owner of the property involved.(Pub. L. 90–543, § 4, Oct. 2, 1968, 82 Stat. 919; Pub. L. 98–11, title II, § 204, Mar. 28, 1983, 97 Stat. 43.)Editorial NotesAmendments

1983—Subsec. (b)(i), (ii). Pub. L. 98–11, § 204(1), substituted “appropriate Secretary” for “Secretary of the Interior”.

Subsec. (b)(iii). Pub. L. 98–11, § 204(2)–(4), added cl. (iii).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1988–2026 · leading case: Buffalo Twp. v. Jones, 778 A.2d 1269 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2001).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Buffalo Twp. v. Jones, 778 A.2d 1269 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2001). “See 16 U.S.C. §§ 1243 , 1244 and 1246. The Act further provided that state or local governments or federal authorities could acquire the land necessary for a designated trail through cooperative agreements with landowners or by purchase; however, if all voluntary means for…”
Alley Cat Allies Inc. v. United States Nat'l Park Serv. (D.D.C. 2026). · cites it 4× “§ 1244 (a), in turn, governs national scenic and historic trails, not national recreation trails, which are governed by 16 U.S.C. § 1243 . See Apr. 30, 2026 Hrg.”
Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. Interstate Com. Comm'n, 850 F.2d 694 (D.C. Cir. 1988). “See 16 U.S.C. §§ 1243 , 1244, 1246. Section 7(e) of the Act, 16 U.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.