---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 460nn"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "460nn"
heading: "Findings and purpose"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/460nn"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter XCIX — Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area"
---

# §460nn. Findings and purpose

- (a) Congress finds that—
  - (1) Vermont is a beautiful but small and rural [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a), situated near four large cities with combined metropolitan populations of over fifteen million;
  - (2) geographic and topographic characteristics of Vermont provide opportunities for large numbers of people to experience the beauty of primitive [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A), but also place unusual pressure to provide options to maximize the availability of such lands for a variety of forms of recreation;
  - (3) certain lands designated as the Big Branch and Peru Peak [Wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) [Areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) by title I of this Act are suitable for inclusion as part of the national recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A); and
  - (4) certain other lands in the Green Mountain National Forest not designated as [wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) by this Act are of a predominantly roadless nature and possess outstanding wild values that are important for primitive and semiprimitive recreation, watershed protection, wildlife habitat, ecological study, education, and historic and archeological resources, and are deemed suitable for preservation and protection as part of a national recreation [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A).
- (b) The purpose of this subchapter is to designate certain National Forest System lands in the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) of Vermont as the Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) in order to [preserve](/usc/16/698u–1.md?p=2) and protect their existing [wilderness](/usc/16/3102.md?p=13) and wild values and to promote wild forest and aquatic habitat for wildlife, watershed protection, opportunities for primitive and semiprimitive recreation, and scenic, ecological, and scientific values.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–322, title II, § 201, June 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 256; Pub. L. 110–1, § 1(b), Jan. 17, 2007, 121 Stat. 3.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(3), (4), is Pub. L. 98–322, June 19, 1984, 98 Stat. 253. Lands in the Green Mountain National Forest were designated as wilderness areas by title I of this Act, and are listed in a table of Wilderness Areas set out under section 1132 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Change of Name

“Robert T. Stafford White Rocks National Recreation Area” substituted in subsec. (b) for “White Rocks National Recreation Area” pursuant to section 1(b) of Pub. L. 110–1, set out as a note under section 460nn–1 of this title.