---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 401"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "401"
heading: "Establishment; boundaries; administration"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/401"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter XLV — Bryce Canyon National Park"
---

# §401. Establishment; boundaries; administration


There is reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or disposal under the laws of the United States and dedicated and set apart as a public [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, under the name of the “Bryce Canyon National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3),” the tract of land in the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) of Utah particularly described by and included within metes and bounds, as follows, to wit:

Unsurveyed sections [31](/usc/16/31.md) and [32](/usc/16/32.md), township 36 south, range 3 west; surveyed [section 36](/usc/16/36.md), township 36 south, range 4 west; north half, southwest quarter and west half of the southeast quarter of partially surveyed [section 5](/usc/16/5.md); unsurveyed sections [6](/usc/16/6.md) and [7](/usc/16/7.md), west half, west half of the northeast quarter, and west half of the southeast quarter of partially surveyed [section 8](/usc/16/8.md), partially surveyed [section 17](/usc/16/17.md), and unsurveyed [section 18](/usc/16/18.md), township 37 south, range 3 west; and unsurveyed sections [1](/usc/16/1.md), [12](/usc/16/12.md), and [13](/usc/16/13.md), township 37 south, range 4, all west of the Salt Lake meridian in the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) of Utah. All the land within the exterior boundaries of the aforesaid tract shall first become the property of the United States. The administration, protection, and promotion of said Bryce Canyon National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) shall be exercised under the direction of the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior by the National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) Service, subject to the provisions of the Act of August 25, 1916, entitled “An Act to establish a National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) Service, and for other purposes.”[^1]


## Footnotes

[^1]: See References in Text note below.

## Source credit

(June 7, 1924, ch. 305, §§ 1, 2, 43 Stat. 593, 594; Feb. 25, 1928, ch. 102, § 1, 45 Stat. 147; May 12, 1928, ch. 533, § 1, 45 Stat. 502.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

The Act of August 25, 1916, entitled “An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes.”, referred to in text, is act Aug. 25, 1916, ch. 408, 39 Stat. 535, known as the National Park Service Organic Act, which enacted sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this title and provisions set out as a note under section 100101 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs. Sections 1 to 4 of the Act were repealed and restated as section 1865(a) of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 100101(a), chapter 1003, and sections 100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 102101 of Title 54 by Pub. L. 113–287, §§ 3, 4(a)(1), 7, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3094, 3260, 3272. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. For disposition of former sections of this title, see Disposition Table preceding section 100101 of Title 54.

### Codification

The last sentence of this section is from section 2 of act June 7, 1924.

### Amendments

1928—Act May 12, 1928, changed description of land in section 8 from “west half of the southwest quarter” to “west half of the southeast quarter”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Change of Name

“Utah National Park” changed to “Bryce Canyon National Park” by section 1 of act Feb. 25, 1928, classified to section 402a of this title.