---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 460gg"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "460gg"
heading: "Establishment"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/460gg"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter XCI — Hells Canyon National Recreation Area"
---

# §460gg. Establishment

- (a) **In general—** To assure that the natural beauty, and historical and archeological values of the Hells Canyon [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) and the seventy-one-mile segment of the Snake River between Hells Canyon Dam and the Oregon-Washington border, together with portions of certain of its tributaries and adjacent lands, are preserved for this and future generations, and that the recreational and ecologic values and public enjoyment of the [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) are thereby enhanced, there is hereby established the Hells Canyon National Recreation [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A).
- (b) **Boundaries; publication in Federal Register—** The Hells Canyon National Recreation [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) (hereinafter referred to as the “recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A)”), which includes the Hells Canyon [Wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) (hereinafter referred to as the “[wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13)”), the components of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System designated in [section 3](/usc/16/3.md) of this Act, and the [wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) study [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) designated in [section 460gg–5(d) of this title](/usc/16/460gg–5.md?p=d), shall comprise the lands and waters generally depicted on the [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) entitled “Hells Canyon National Recreation [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A)” dated May 1978, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Chief, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as “the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1)”), shall, as soon as practicable, but no later than eighteen months after December 31, 1975, publish a detailed boundary description of the recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A), the [wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) study [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) designated in [section 460gg–5(d) of this title](/usc/16/460gg–5.md?p=d), and the [wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) established in [section 460gg–1 of this title](/usc/16/460gg–1.md) in the Federal Register.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 94–199, § 1, Dec. 31, 1975, 89 Stat. 1117; Pub. L. 95–625, title VI, § 607, Nov. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 3520.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

Section 3 of this Act, referred to in subsec. (b), is section 3 of Pub. L. 94–199. Subsec. (a) of section 3 added pars. (11) and (12) of section 1274(a) of this title, relating to components of the national wild and scenic rivers system. Subsec. (b) of section 3, relating to the administration of those segments of the Snake and Rapid Rivers designated as wild or scenic river areas, is set out as a note under section 1274 of this title.

### Amendments

1978—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–625 substituted “May 1978” for “September 1975” to clarify that the boundary between Saulsberry and Freezeout Saddles is the hydrologic divide.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Separability

Pub. L. 94–199, § 17, Dec. 31, 1975, 89 Stat. 1123, provided that: “If any provision of this Act [this subchapter] is declared to be invalid, such declaration shall not affect the validity of any other provision hereof.”