---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 460vv–7"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "460vv–7"
heading: "Botanical areas"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/460vv-7"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter CVII — Winding Stair Mountain National Recreation and Wilderness Area"
---

# §460vv–7. Botanical areas

- (a) **Designation—** In order to protect and interpret to the public [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) within the Ouachita National Forest which contain unique plant species and unique plant communities that are significant in their occurrence, variety and location, the following lands are hereby designated as botanical [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A):
  - (1) Certain lands in the Ouachita National Forest, Oklahoma, which comprise approximately eight thousand and twenty-six acres as generally depicted on a [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) entitled “Robert S. Kerr [Memorial](/usc/16/450ss–1.md?p=2) Arboretum, Nature Center and Botanical [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A)—Proposed”, dated March 1988, which shall be known as the “Robert S. Kerr [Memorial](/usc/16/450ss–1.md?p=2) Arboretum, Nature Center and Botanical [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A)”.
  - (2) Certain lands in the Ouachita National Forest, Oklahoma, which comprise approximately four hundred acres as generally depicted on a [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) entitled “Beech Creek Botanical [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A)—Proposed”, dated March 1988, which shall be known as the “Beech Creek Botanical [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A)”.
- (b) **Map and description—** The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of Agriculture shall, as soon as practicable after October 18, 1988, file a [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) and a legal description of the botanical [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) with the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture of the United States House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the United States Senate. Each such [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) and legal description shall have the same force and effect as if included in this subchapter; except that correction of clerical and typographical errors in such legal description and [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) may be made. The [map](/usc/16/430f–7.md?p=1) and legal description shall be on file and available for public inspection in the Office of the Chief of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
- (c) **Administration—** The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) shall administer the botanical [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations applicable to the national forests in such manner as will best further the purposes of this section, as set forth in [subsection (a)](#a). Except as provided in [section 460vv–14 of this title](/usc/16/460vv–14.md), vegetative manipulation, including the cutting of trees, shall be permitted in such [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) only when necessary for the protection and interpretation of the unique plant species and unique plant communities within the [area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A). The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) may permit expansion of roads, improvements, and other facilities in the vicinity of the Robert S. Kerr Nature Center.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 100–499, § 9, Oct. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 2495.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Change of Name

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives changed to Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives on Jan. 5, 1993, by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Third Congress.