---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 90b"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "90b"
heading: "Land acquisition; authority of Secretary; manner and place; donation of State lands; transfer to administrative jurisdiction of Secretary; elimination of lands from national forests"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/90b"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter X — North Cascades National Park"
---

# §90b. Land acquisition; authority of Secretary; manner and place; donation of State lands; transfer to administrative jurisdiction of Secretary; elimination of lands from national forests

- (a) [^1] Within the boundaries of the [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) and recreation [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A), the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior (hereinafter referred to in this subchapter as the “[Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1)”) may [acquire](/usc/16/620e.md?p=1) lands, waters, and interests therein by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange, except that he may not [acquire](/usc/16/620e.md?p=1) any such interests within the recreation [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) without the consent of the [owner](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4), so long as the lands are devoted to uses compatible with the purposes of this subchapter. Lands owned by the [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) of Washington or any political [subdivision](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=15) thereof may be acquired only by donation. Federal property within the boundaries of the [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) and recreation [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) is hereby transferred to the administrative jurisdiction of the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) for administration by him as part of the [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) and recreation [areas](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A). The national forest land within such boundaries is hereby eliminated from the national forests within which it was heretofore located.
- (b) The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) is hereby authorized to [acquire](/usc/16/620e.md?p=1), with the consent of the [owner](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4), lands outside of the authorized boundaries of North Cascades National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) Service Complex for the purpose of construction and operation of a backcountry information center not to exceed five acres. The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior is further authorized to [acquire](/usc/16/620e.md?p=1) with the consent of the [owner](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4), lands for the construction of a headquarters and administrative site or sites, for the North Cascades National [Park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3), Ross Lake National Recreation [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A), and Lake Chelan National Recreation [Area](/usc/16/539m–1.md?p=1-A) not to exceed ten acres. The lands so acquired shall be managed as part of the [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3).

## Footnotes

[^1]: Subsec. (a) designation editorially supplied.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 90–544, title III, § 301, Oct. 2, 1968, 82 Stat. 927; Pub. L. 100–668, title II, § 203, Nov. 16, 1988, 102 Stat. 3963.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1988—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100–668 added subsec. (b).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Boundary Adjustments for Road

Pub. L. 100–668, title II, § 207, as added by Pub. L. 113–291, div. B, title XXX, § 3040, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3788, authorized Secretary to adjust boundaries of North Cascades National Park and Stephen Mather Wilderness in order to provide a 100-foot-wide corridor along which the Stehekin Valley Road could be rebuilt and directed that such adjustment be made so that equal acreage amounts would be exchanged, resulting in no net loss of acreage to either the Park or the Wilderness.