---
kind: "section"
citation: "54 U.S.C. § 308302"
title: "54"
title_heading: "National Park Service and Related Programs"
number: "308302"
heading: "Program"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/54/308302"
units:
  - "Subtitle III — National Preservation Programs"
  - "Division B — Organizations and Programs"
  - "Subdivision 1 — Administered by National Park Service"
  - "Chapter 3083 — National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom"
---

# §308302. Program

- (a) **Establishment; Responsibilities of Secretary.—** The [Secretary](/usc/54/308101.md?p=1) shall establish in the [Service](/usc/54/100102.md?p=4) the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Under the national network, the [Secretary](/usc/54/308101.md?p=1) shall—
  - (1) produce and disseminate appropriate educational materials, such as handbooks, maps, interpretive guides, or electronic information;
  - (2) enter into appropriate cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding to provide technical assistance under [subsection (c)](#c); and
  - (3) create and adopt an official, uniform symbol or device for the national network and issue regulations for its use.
- (b) **Elements.—** The national network shall encompass the following elements:
  - (1) All [System units](/usc/54/100102.md?p=6) and [programs](/usc/54/308601.md?p=3) of the [Service](/usc/54/100102.md?p=4) determined by the [Secretary](/usc/54/308101.md?p=1) to pertain to the Underground Railroad.
  - (2) Other Federal, State, local, and privately owned properties pertaining to the Underground Railroad that have a verifiable connection to the Underground Railroad and that are included on, or determined by the [Secretary](/usc/54/308101.md?p=1) to be eligible for inclusion on, the National Register of [Historic](/usc/54/308601.md?p=2) Places.
  - (3) Other governmental and nongovernmental facilities and [programs](/usc/54/308601.md?p=3) of an educational, research, or interpretive nature that are directly related to the Underground Railroad.
- (c) **Cooperative Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding.—** To achieve the purposes of this chapter and to ensure effective coordination of the Federal and non-Federal elements of the national network with [System units](/usc/54/100102.md?p=6) and [programs](/usc/54/308601.md?p=3) of the [Service](/usc/54/100102.md?p=4), the [Secretary](/usc/54/308101.md?p=1) may enter into cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding with, and provide technical assistance—
  - (1) to the heads of other Federal agencies, States, localities, regional governmental bodies, and private entities; and
  - (2) in cooperation with the Secretary of State, to the governments of Canada, Mexico, and any appropriate country in the Caribbean.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 113–287, § 3, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3234.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 308302 | 16 U.S.C. 469l–1. | Pub. L. 105–203, § 3, July 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 679; Pub. L. 110–229, title III, subtitle G, § 361(a)(1), May 8, 2008, 122 Stat. 801. |

In subsection (a), the words “a program to be known as” are omitted as unnecessary. The words “national network” are substituted for “program” because of the definition of “national network” in section 308301 of this title and for consistency with subsections (b) and (c).