---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 164"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "164"
heading: "Eliminating private holdings of lands; timber or public lands of equal value in exchange"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/164"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter XX — Glacier National Park"
---

# §164. Eliminating private holdings of lands; timber or public lands of equal value in exchange


The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior, for the purpose of eliminating private holdings within the Glacier National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) and the preservation intact of the natural forest along the roads in the scenic portions of the [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3), both on patented and [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) lands, is empowered, in his discretion: (1) To obtain for the United States the complete title to any or all of the lands held in private or [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) ownership within the boundaries of said [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) within townships 32 and 33 north, ranges 18 and 19 west of Montana principal meridian, by the exchange of dead, decadent, or matured timber of approximately equal values that can be removed from any part of the [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) without injuriously affecting the scenic beauty thereof; or, upon the approval of the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of Agriculture, the timber to be selected or exchanged may be taken from the Government lands within the metes and bounds of the national forests within the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) of Montana, or, (2) to obtain for the United States the complete title to any or all of the lands held in private ownership within the boundaries of said [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) by accepting from the [owners](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4) of such privately owned lands complete relinquishment thereof and by granting and patenting to such [owners](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4), in exchange therefor, in each instance, like public land of equal value situate in the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) of Montana, after due notice of the proposed exchange has been given by publication for not less than thirty days in the [counties](/usc/16/544.md?p=d) where the lands proposed to be exchanged or taken in exchange are located.


## Source credit

(Mar. 3, 1917, ch. 164, § 1, 39 Stat. 1122; Feb. 28, 1923, ch. 144, § 1, 42 Stat. 1324.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section is based on section 1 of act Mar. 3, 1917, and section 1 of act Feb. 23, 1923; subdivision (1) being from the former and subdivision (2) being from the latter act. Of the language preceding subdivision (1), that portion from the beginning of the section to the word “and” was common to both of the sections aforesaid, while the remaining portion was derived from section 1 of act Mar. 3, 1917.