---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 6231"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "6231"
heading: "Findings, purpose, and definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/6231"
units:
  - "Chapter 81A — National Forest Organizational Camp Fee Improvement"
---

# §6231. Findings, purpose, and definitions

- (a) **Findings—** Congress finds the following:
  - (1) [Organizational camps](#c-1), such as those administered by the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and faith-based and community-based organizations, provide a valuable service to young people, individuals with a disability, and their families by promoting physical, mental, and spiritual health through activities conducted in a natural environment.
  - (2) The 192,000,0000[^1] acres of national forests and grasslands of the National Forest System managed for [multiple uses](/usc/16/531.md?p=a) by the Forest Service provides an ideal setting for such [organizational camps](#c-1).
  - (3) The Federal Government should charge land use fees for the occupancy and use of National Forest System lands by such [organizational camps](#c-1) that, while based on the fair market value of the land in use, also recognize the benefits provided to society by such [organizational camps](#c-1), do not preclude the ability of such [organizational camps](#c-1) from utilizing these lands, and permit capital investment in, and maintenance of, camp facilities by such [organizational camps](#c-1) or their sponsoring organizations.
  - (4) [Organizational camps](#c-1) should—
    - (A) ensure that their facilities meet applicable building and safety codes, including fire and health codes;
    - (B) have annual inspections as required by local law, including at a minimum inspections for fire and food safety; and
    - (C) have in place safety plans that address fire and medical emergencies and encounters with wildlife.
- (b) **Purpose—** It is the purpose of this chapter to establish a land use fee system that provides for an equitable return to the Federal Government for the occupancy and use of National Forest System lands by [organizational camps](#c-1) that serve young people or individuals with a disability.
- (c) **Definitions—** In this chapter:
  - (1) The term “organizational camp” means a public or semipublic camp that—
    - (A) is developed on National Forest System lands by a nonprofit organization or governmental entity;
    - (B) provides a valuable service to the public by using such lands as a setting to introduce young people or individuals with a disability to activities that they may not otherwise experience and to educate them on natural resource issues; and
    - (C) does not have as its primary purpose raising revenue through commercial activities.
  - (2) The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.
  - (3) The term “individual with a disability” has the meaning given the term in [section 705(20) of title 29](/usc/29/705.md?p=20).
  - (4) The term “children at risk” means children who are raised in poverty or in single-parent homes or are subject to such circumstances as parental drug abuse, homelessness, or child abuse.
  - (5) The term “change in control” means—
    - (A) for a corporation, the sale or transfer of a controlling interest in the corporation;
    - (B) for a partnership or limited liability company, the sale or transfer of a controlling interest in the partnership or limited liability company; and
    - (C) for an individual, the sale or transfer or an [organizational camp](#c-1) subject to this chapter to another party.

## Footnotes

[^1]: So in original.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 108–7, div. F, title V, § 502, Feb. 20, 2003, 117 Stat. 294.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (b) and (c), was in the original “this Act”, which was translated as reading “this title”, meaning title V of div. F of Pub. L. 108–7, known as the National Forest Organizational Camp Fee Improvement Act of 2003, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

Pub. L. 108–7, div. F, title V, § 501, Feb. 20, 2003, 117 Stat. 294, provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘National Forest Organizational Camp Fee Improvement Act of 2003’.”