Nos. 18-1584 & 18-1587
IN THE

Supreme Court of the United States
_________

UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, ET AL.,
Petitioners,
AND

ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE, LLC,
Petitioner,
v.
COWPASTURE RIVER PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION, ET AL.,
Respondents.
__________
On Writs of Certiorari
to the United States Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit
__________
BRIEF FOR RESPONDENTS
__________
AUSTIN D. GERKEN, JR.
AMELIA BURNETTE
J. PATRICK HUNTER
SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW CENTER
48 Patton Avenue, Suite 304
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 258-2023

MICHAEL K. KELLOGG
Counsel of Record
GREGORY G. RAPAWY
BRADLEY E. OPPENHEIMER
KELLOGG, HANSEN, TODD,
FIGEL & FREDERICK, P.L.L.C.
1615 M Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 326-7900
(mkellogg@kellogghansen.com)

Counsel for Respondents Cowpasture River Preservation
Association, Highlanders for Responsible Development,
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, Shenandoah
Valley Network, and Virginia Wilderness Committee
January 15, 2020
(Additional Counsel Listed On Inside Cover)

 GREGORY BUPPERT
SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW CENTER
201 West Main Street, Suite 14
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 977-4090
Counsel for Respondents
Cowpasture River Preservation
Association, Highlanders for
Responsible Development,
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields
Foundation, Shenandoah Valley
Network, and Virginia Wilderness
Committee
NATHAN MATTHEWS
SIERRA CLUB ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW PROGRAM
2101 Webster Street, Suite 1300
Oakland, CA 94612
(415) 977-5695
Counsel for Respondents
Sierra Club and
Wild Virginia, Inc.

 QUESTION PRESENTED
Whether the United States Forest Service has
statutory authority under the Mineral Leasing
Act to grant a gas pipeline right-of-way across the
Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

 ii
RULE 29.6 STATEMENTS
Pursuant to Rule 29.6 of the Rules of this Court,
respondents Cowpasture River Preservation Association, Highlanders for Responsible Development, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, Shenandoah
Valley Network, Sierra Club, Virginia Wilderness
Committee, and Wild Virginia, Inc. state the following:
None of the respondents is a publicly held entity;
none of the respondents has a parent company;
and none of the respondents has issued stock to any
publicly held company.

 iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

QUESTION PRESENTED .......................................... i
RULE 29.6 STATEMENTS ........................................ ii
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ...................................... vi
INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 1
STATEMENT OF THE CASE .................................... 4
A. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail
and the National Park System ........................ 4
B. Pipelines Crossing Federal Lands ................... 7
C. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline Application ......... 9
D. The Agency Proceedings ................................ 10
E. The Fourth Circuit’s Decision........................ 11
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT .................................. 13
ARGUMENT ............................................................. 14
I. THE FOREST SERVICE LACKS AUTHORITY TO GRANT A PIPELINE
RIGHT-OF-WAY BECAUSE THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL IS LAND IN THE
NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM ......................... 14
A. Plain Statutory Text Places the Trail
in the Park System and Precludes
Agency Approval of Oil-and-Gas
Pipelines .................................................... 14
B. Statutory History Confirms That the
Appalachian Trail Is in the Park
System and Carved out of the Leasing
Act ............................................................. 15
1. The 1970 General Authorities Act ...... 15
2. The 1973 Leasing Act Amendments...... 17

 iv
C. A Half-Century of Agency Interpretation Acknowledges That the Appalachian Trail Is “in the National Park
System” ..................................................... 19
II. PETITIONERS CANNOT SEPARATE
THE “TRAIL” FROM THE FEDERAL
“LANDS” DEDICATED TO THE TRAIL ...... 22
A. Common Usage, Statutory Text, and
Agency Practice Confirm That the
Trail Is an Area of Land ........................... 22
1. The Word “Trail” Ordinarily
Refers to an Area of Land ................... 22
2. The Trails Act and the Organic
Act Confirm That the Park Service Administers the Trail as an
Area of Land ........................................ 24
B. Neither the 1983 Trails Act Amendments nor the 1911 Weeks Act
Excludes the Trail from the Park
System ....................................................... 34
1. The 1983 Amendments Do Not
Affect the Park Service’s Administration of the Trail ............................ 34
2. The Weeks Act Does Not Affect
the Park Service’s Administration
of the Trail ........................................... 38
C. Petitioners’ Other Statutory Arguments Fall Short ....................................... 41
1. The Rivers Act Does Not Support
Petitioners’ Reading of the Trails
Act ........................................................ 41
2. The Blue Ridge Parkway Acts
Confirm the Trail Is Land in the
Park System ........................................ 43

 v
D. Petitioners’ Policy Arguments Are
Irrelevant and Unfounded ........................ 45
CONCLUSION.......................................................... 49
ADDENDUM:
Mineral Leasing Act, 30 U.S.C. § 181 et seq.:
§ 28(a)-(b), 30 U.S.C. § 185(a)-(b) ................... Add. 1
National Park Service Organic Act, 54 U.S.C.
§ 100101 et seq.:
54 U.S.C. § 100101 ........................................ Add. 2
54 U.S.C. § 100102 ........................................ Add. 3
54 U.S.C. § 100501 ........................................ Add. 4
National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1241
et seq.:
§ 5(a)(1), 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1) .................... Add. 4
§ 5(d), 16 U.S.C. § 1244(d) ............................. Add. 5
§ 7, 16 U.S.C. § 1246...................................... Add. 7
§ 9(a), 16 U.S.C. § 1248(a) ........................... Add. 18
Weeks Act, ch. 186, 36 Stat. 961 (1911) (as
amended):
§ 11, 16 U.S.C. § 521.................................... Add. 19
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1271
et seq.:
§ 10, 16 U.S.C. § 1281 .................................. Add. 19
Blue Ridge Parkway Acts:
16 U.S.C. § 460a-2 ....................................... Add. 21
16 U.S.C. § 460a-3 ....................................... Add. 23
16 U.S.C. § 460a-6 ....................................... Add. 23
16 U.S.C. § 460a-8 ....................................... Add. 24

 vi
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page

CASES
Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 (1917) ...... 46
FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.,
529 U.S. 120 (2000) ............................................. 40
Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 87 (1810)......... 39
ICC v. New York, N.H. & H.R.R. Co., 287 U.S.
178 (1932) ............................................................ 26
Parker Drilling Mgmt. Servs., Ltd. v. Newton,
139 S. Ct. 1881 (2019) ......................................... 18
RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated
Bank, 566 U.S. 639 (2012)................................... 40
Sierra Club v. United States Dep’t of Interior,
899 F.3d 260 (4th Cir. 2018) ............................... 10
Sturgeon v. Frost, 139 S. Ct. 1066 (2019) .....21, 37, 47
Territory of New Mexico v. United States Tr. Co.
of New York, 172 U.S. 171 (1898) ....................... 26
United States v. Beasley, 12 F.3d 280 (1st Cir.
1993)..................................................................... 42
United States v. Union Pac. R.R. Co., 353 U.S.
112 (1957) ............................................................ 26
United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 489 U.S.
235 (1989) ............................................................ 46
Wallis v. Pan Am. Petroleum Corp., 384 U.S. 63
(1966) ................................................................... 17

 vii
STATUTES AND REGULATIONS
Act of Feb. 15, 1901, ch. 372, 31 Stat. 790 ............... 46
Act of Mar. 4, 1911, ch. 238, 36 Stat. 1253 .............. 46
Act of Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, § 28, 41 Stat. 437,
449 ........................................................................ 17
Act of June 30, 1936, ch. 883, 49 Stat. 2041 ............ 43
Act of June 8, 1940, ch. 277, 54 Stat. 249 ................ 43
54 Stat. 250 .......................................................... 45
Act of Aug. 8, 1946, ch. 916, § 1, 60 Stat. 950,
950 ........................................................................ 17
Act of Aug. 7, 1947, ch. 513, § 3, 61 Stat. 913,
914 ........................................................................ 17
Act of Aug. 8, 1953, ch. 384, 67 Stat. 495 ................ 15
§ 2(a), 67 Stat. 496, formerly codified at
16 U.S.C. § 1c(a) (repealed 2014) ........................ 15
§ 2(b), 67 Stat. 496, formerly codified at
16 U.S.C. § 1c(b) (repealed 2014) ........................ 16
Act of July 11, 1956, ch. 568, § 1, 70 Stat. 527,
527 ........................................................................ 30
Act of July 20, 1956, ch. 653, § 1, 70 Stat. 592,
592 ........................................................................ 30
Act of Oct. 9, 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-555, 82 Stat.
967 ........................................................................ 43
Act of Oct. 27, 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-589, § 4(a),
86 Stat. 1299, 1302 ......................................... 30-31
Act of Nov. 16, 1973, Pub. L. No. 93-153, § 101,
87 Stat. 576, 577 .............................................17, 18
Act of July 27, 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-337, § 4,
104 Stat. 379, 380 ................................................ 31

 viii
Act of Dec. 19, 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-287, § 2(b),
128 Stat. 3094, 3094 ............................................ 30
Act of Dec. 19, 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-291,
§ 3031(c)(1), 128 Stat. 3292, 3768 ....................... 31
Blue Ridge Parkway Acts, 16 U.S.C. § 460a-1
et seq. ........................................................29, 43, 44
16 U.S.C. § 460a-2 ..........................................36, 43
16 U.S.C. § 460a-3 ....................................44, 45, 46
16 U.S.C. § 460a-6 ............................................... 43
16 U.S.C. § 460a-7(3) ........................................... 29
16 U.S.C. § 460a-8 ..........................................44, 45
Federal Water Project Recreation Act, Pub. L.
No. 89-72, § 7(c), 79 Stat. 213, 217 (1965)
(codified at 16 U.S.C. § 460l-18(c)) ................. 41-42
General Authorities Act of 1970, Pub. L. No.
91-383, 84 Stat. 825 ...................................... passim
§ 1, 84 Stat. 825 ................................................... 16
§ 2(a), 84 Stat. 826 ............................................... 16
§ 2(b), 84 Stat. 826 ............................................... 16
John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management,
and Recreation Act, Pub. L. No. 116-9,
§§ 2301-2303, 133 Stat. 580, 743-46 (2019) ........ 31
Mineral Leasing Act, 30 U.S.C. § 181 et seq. .... passim
30 U.S.C. § 185 ...................................................... 7
30 U.S.C. § 185(a) .................................7, 14, 47, 48
30 U.S.C. § 185(b) ...........................................14, 17
30 U.S.C. § 185(b)(1) .........................1, 7, 13, 37, 47

 ix
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969,
42 U.S.C. § 4331 et seq. ...................................... 12
42 U.S.C. § 4332(C)(iii) ........................................ 12
National Forest Management Act of 1976,
Pub. L. No. 94-588, 90 Stat. 2949 ....................... 12
16 U.S.C. § 1604(i) ............................................... 12
National Park Service Organic Act, ch. 408,
39 Stat. 535 (1916), codified as amended at
54 U.S.C. § 100101 et seq. ........................... passim
54 U.S.C. § 100101(a) ........................................ 3, 6
54 U.S.C. § 100101(b)(1)(B) ............................. 6, 16
54 U.S.C. § 100101(b)(1)(D)............................. 6, 16
54 U.S.C. § 100101(b)(2) ........................................ 6
54 U.S.C. § 100102(2) .......................................... 14
54 U.S.C. § 100102(6) ...................................2, 6, 30
54 U.S.C. § 100501 ..................................1, 2, 5, 13,
14, 16, 30, 35
54 U.S.C. § 100502 .............................................. 35
54 U.S.C. § 100507(c)(4)(B) ................................. 35
54 U.S.C. § 100706 .............................................. 35
54 U.S.C. § 100731(1) .......................................... 18
54 U.S.C. § 100902 .........................................16, 46
54 U.S.C. § 100902(a)(1) ........................................ 7
National Trails System Act, Pub. L. No. 90-543,
82 Stat. 919 (1968), codified as amended at
16 U.S.C. § 1241 et seq. ............................... passim
16 U.S.C. § 1241(a) .............................................. 25
16 U.S.C. § 1241(b) .............................................. 35

 x
16 U.S.C. § 1242(a)(2) .......................................... 25
16 U.S.C. § 1243 .................................................. 28
16 U.S.C. § 1244 .................................................. 28
16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1) .................. 1, 3, 5, 13, 15, 19,
25, 26, 28, 29, 35, 40
16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(10) ........................................ 35
16 U.S.C. § 1244(b) .........................................26, 29
16 U.S.C. § 1244(d) .............................................. 28
16 U.S.C. § 1244(d)(1) .......................................... 29
16 U.S.C. § 1244(d)(2) .......................................... 29
16 U.S.C. § 1244(d)(3) .......................................... 29
16 U.S.C. § 1244(e) .............................................. 29
16 U.S.C. § 1246(a)(1)(A) ..........................25, 35, 37
16 U.S.C. § 1246(a)(1)(B) ..................................... 35
16 U.S.C. § 1246(a)(2) .....................................26, 27
16 U.S.C. § 1246(b) .........................................26, 29
16 U.S.C. § 1246(c) ...................................27, 35, 48
16 U.S.C. § 1246(d) .........................................26, 38
16 U.S.C. § 1246(e) .........................................25, 26
16 U.S.C. § 1246(f )(1) .......................................... 26
16 U.S.C. § 1246(h)(1) ....................................27, 35
16 U.S.C. § 1246(i) ..............................27, 35, 40, 42
16 U.S.C. § 1248(a) .....................................7, 28, 43
16 U.S.C. § 1248(e)(1) .......................................... 26
16 U.S.C. § 1250 .................................................. 35

 xi
National Trails System Act Amendments of
1983, Pub. L. No. 98-11, tit. II, § 207(a)(2),
97 Stat. 42, 45 .................................................34, 35
Port Chicago National Memorial Act of 1992,
Pub. L. No. 102-562, tit. II, 106 Stat. 4234,
4235 ...................................................................... 33
Weeks Act, ch. 186, 36 Stat. 961 (1911) ...............34, 36,
38, 39, 43
16 U.S.C. § 516 .................................................... 39
16 U.S.C. § 519a .................................................. 39
16 U.S.C. § 521 ..............................................36, 38,
39, 40, 41
16 U.S.C. §§ 521c-521i ......................................... 39
16 U.S.C. § 521i ................................................... 39
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Pub. L. No. 90-542,
82 Stat. 906 (1968), codified as amended at
16 U.S.C. § 1271 et seq. .....................36, 41, 42, 44
§ 6, 82 Stat. 912 ................................................... 41
16 U.S.C. § 1274(a)(5) .......................................... 37
16 U.S.C. § 1277 .................................................. 41
16 U.S.C. § 1277(e) .............................................. 41
16 U.S.C. § 1281(c) ...................................36, 41, 42
16 U.S.C. § 1284(g) .............................................. 43
16 U.S.C. § 5 (repealed 2014) ..............................16, 46
16 U.S.C. § 19jj(d) (repealed 2014) ........................... 31
16 U.S.C. § 79 (repealed 2014) ................................. 46
16 U.S.C. § 410qq-2................................................... 33
16 U.S.C. § 410bbb .................................................... 33

 xii
16 U.S.C. § 410uuu ................................................... 33
30 U.S.C. § 1272(e)(1) ............................................... 18
36 C.F.R.
Pts. 1-7 ................................................................. 34
Pt. 219:
§ 219.13 ........................................................... 12
LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS
H.R. Rep. No. 91-1265 (1970) ....................6, 16, 17, 31
Hearing on H.R. 14114 Before the Subcomm. on
Nat’l Parks and Recreation of the H. Comm.
on Interior and Insular Affairs, 91st Cong.
(1969) ................................................................... 17
S. Rep. No. 91-1014 (1970) ..................................16, 17
S. Rep. No. 93-207 (1973), reprinted in 1973
U.S.C.C.A.N. 2417 ............................................... 18
Statement of Timothy Spisak, Senior Advisor,
Minerals and Realty Management, Bureau
of Land Management, U.S. Dep’t of Interior,
Before the Subcomm. on Energy and Mineral Resources of the H. Comm. on Natural
Resources, on H.R. 2295, 114th Cong. (May
20, 2015), https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/
114/hr2295_052015 ............................................... 8

 xiii
ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS
Nat’l Park Service:
Appalachian National Scenic Trail Resource
Management Plan (Sept. 2008), https://
www.nps.gov/appa/learn/nature/upload/AT_
Resource_Management_Plan_Ch_1.pdf .........12, 29
Appalachian Trail Superintendent’s Compendium (Oct. 1, 2019), https://www.nps.
gov/appa/learn/management/upload/APPAOctober-2019-Compendium-of-Orders.pdf ......... 20
Blue Ridge Parkway Maps, https://www.nps.
gov/carto/app/#!/maps/alphacode/BLRI (last
visited Jan. 14, 2020) ............................................. 45
Comprehensive Plan for the Protection,
Management, Development and Use of the
Appalachian National Scenic Trail (Sept.
1981),
http://appalachiantrailhistory.org/
files/original/1a8be2dcf229787c95929fa
49206a8d0.pdf ................................................19, 24
Director’s Order #45 (May 24, 2013), https://
www.nps.gov/policy/DOrders/DO_45.pdf.......20, 36
Land Resources Div., National Park Service
Acreage
Reports,
https://www.nps.gov/
subjects/lwcf/acreagereports.htm........................ 22
Land Resources Div., National Park Service
Acreage Reports (calendar year 2019),
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lwcf/upload/
NPS-Acreage-12-31-2019.pdf ...........2, 8, 22, 33, 47
Memorandum of Understanding for the
Appalachian National Scenic Trail in the
State of Connecticut (June 1, 2012),
https://www.appalachiantrail.org/docs/localmanagement-planning-guide/2012-ct-at-mou.
PDF?sfvrsn=6ae80d31_0 ..................................... 20

 xiv
National Park of American Samoa Superintendent’s Compendium (Sept. 4, 2014),
https://www.nps.gov/npsa/learn/management/
superintendent-s-compendium.htm.................... 34
National Park Or National Forest?,
https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/npversus-nf.htm (last visited Jan. 10, 2020) .......... 44
National Parks & Landmarks, http://nps
history.com/publications/index-1972.pdf ............ 19
National Trails System: Reference Manual
45 (Jan. 2019), https://www.nps.gov/policy/
Reference_Manual_45.pdf ........................24, 36, 38
Natural Resource Monitoring along the
Appalachian NST, https://www.nps.gov/im/
netn/appa.htm (last visited Jan. 14, 2020) ......... 28
New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
Superintendent’s Orders (Dec. 10, 2019),
https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/management/
upload/2019-2020-Signed-SuperintendentsOrders-12102019.pdf ........................................... 34
The National Parks:
Index 2012-2016
(2016), https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/upload/
NPIndex2012-2016.pdf ........................................ 20
The National Parks: Shaping the System
(2005), https://go.usa.gov/xpRWS ....................... 19
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers’ trails designated as
National Recreation Trails, https://www.
usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/NewsRelease-Article-View/Article/475454/usarmy-corps-of-engineers-trails-designatedas-national-recreation-trails/ (last visited
Jan. 14, 2020) ...................................................... 28

 xv
U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Revised Land and Resource
Management Plan – George Washington
National Forest (Nov. 2014), https://www.fs.
usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/
fseprd525098.pdf ............................................. 2, 22
U.S. Dep’t of Interior:
34 Fed. Reg. 14,337 (Sept. 12, 1969) ..........5, 15, 30
Budget Justifications and Performance
Information – Fiscal Year 2020: National
Park Service, https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.
gov/files/fy2020-nps-justification.pdf .................. 20
U.S. Forest Service:
Decision Notice, Columbia Gas, Giles
County, Virginia (Nov. 22, 2013), https://
www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/
93590_FSPLT3_1462661.pdf ............................. 8-9
Lands & Realty Mgmt. Staff, Establishment
and Modification of National Forest Boundaries and National Grasslands: A Chronological Record – 1891-2012 (2012), https://
www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/Documents/Establishment%20and%20Modifications%20of%
20National%20Forest%20Boundaries%20
and%20National%20Grasslands%201891
%20to%202012.pdf .............................................. 39
Letter from Southern Environmental Law
Center to Forest Service (June 24, 2019),
https://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?
document_id=14779685......................................... 8
National Forests on the Edge (Aug. 2007),
https://www.fs.fed.us/openspace/fote/
GTR728.pdf .......................................................... 47

 xvi
Virginia Creeper Trail, https://www.fs.usda.
gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb
5348037.pdf.......................................................... 32
OTHER MATERIALS
Cecil Andrus, Secretary of the Interior, Protecting the Crown Jewels,” 6 EPA J. 12 (June
1979)....................................................................... 4
Appalachian Trail Conservancy, “Major Section
of the Appalachian Trail in Southwest Virginia Permanently Protected” (Apr. 9, 2014),
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/
community/news/2014/04/09/major-sectionof-the-appalachian-trail-in-southwestvirginia-permanently-protected (last visited
Jan. 10, 2020) ........................................................ 9
Black’s Law Dictionary (4th rev. ed. 1968) .........23, 26
Compl., United States v. Reed, No. 1:05-cv-00010GMW-PMS (W.D. Va. Feb. 7, 2005) .................... 31
Int’l Appalachian Trail, “About Us,” https://
www.iat-sia.org/about (last visited Jan. 10,
2020)....................................................................... 5
Ben Montgomery, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk
(2014) ..................................................................... 4
Earl V. Shaffer, Walking with Spring: The First
Thru-Hike of the Appalachian Trail (1983).......... 4
Webster’s New International Dictionary (2d ed.
1950)..........................................................23, 25, 26
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
(2002) ........................................................23, 25, 26

 INTRODUCTION
It is common ground that if the Appalachian National Scenic Trail is among the “lands in the National
Park System,” 30 U.S.C. § 185(b)(1), then neither the
Forest Service (“USFS”) nor any other federal agency
can grant an oil or gas pipeline right-of-way that
crosses the Trail on federal land. The Mineral Leasing
Act says precisely that, and both petitioners acknowledge the point. USFS Br. 3; Atlantic Br. 10.
It is also common ground that the entire Appalachian Trail is “administered . . . by the Secretary of the
Interior,” 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1), who delegated that
duty to the National Park Service (“Park Service,”
“Service,” or “NPS”). The National Trails System Act
(“Trails Act”) says precisely that, and both petitioners
grudgingly acknowledge the point. USFS Br. 26;
Atlantic Br. 6-7.
Finally, it is common ground that “any area of land
. . . administered by the Secretary [of the Interior],
acting through the [Park Service] Director, for park,
monument, historic, parkway, recreational, or other
purposes,” 54 U.S.C. § 100501, is among the “lands in
the National Park System.” The National Park Service Organic Act (“Organic Act”) says precisely that,
and both petitioners, somewhat obliquely, acknowledge the point. USFS Br. 45-46; Atlantic Br. 38.
The issue, then, is whether the Appalachian Trail
is “land” within the meaning of those acts. Both petitioners rest their case on the premise that the Trail
is a footpath that “traverses” land, but is itself not
land. USFS Br. 27-28; Atlantic Br. 36-37. Accordingly, they contend that, where the Trail traverses
national forest, the Forest Service can grant a pipeline
right-of-way because no “lands in the National Park
System” are implicated.

 2
Petitioners’ argument is incorrect for three reasons.
First, as the Park Service explained in the administrative record under review, the Appalachian Trail is a
“protected corridor (a swath of land averaging about
1,000 feet in width . . .).” JA97 (emphasis added); see
id. (“The [Service] administers the entire [Trail] and
as such considers the entire Trail corridor to be a part
of the [Trail] park unit.”). The Park Service’s Land
Resources Division has done the math, confirming
that the Trail corridor occupies nearly 240,000 acres.1
The Forest Service’s own Management Plan states
that the “Trail is administered by the Secretary of the
Interior” and that “about 9,000 acres” of the “Trail
Corridor” are in the George Washington National
Forest.2 Acres of what? Obviously, acres of land.
Second, if the Appalachian Trail does not count as
land, it cannot be a unit of the National Park System
(“Park System” or “System”), because Congress has
defined a Park “System unit” as “any area of land and
water administered by” the Park Service. 54 U.S.C.
§§ 100102(6), 100501. Yet the Trail clearly is such a
unit. Every official source has listed the Trail as a
unit of the Park System for nearly 50 years, and the
Forest Service acknowledged as much in the record
under review.
Third, petitioners mistakenly suggest that, because
the Trails Act states that the Appalachian Trail “shall
1

See NPS, Land Resources Div., National Park Service Acreage Reports, Listing of Acreage at 1 (calendar year 2019) (“2019
Acreage Report”), https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lwcf/upload/NPSAcreage-12-31-2019.pdf.
2 U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Revised Land and Resource Management
Plan – George Washington National Forest 4-42 (Nov. 2014)
(“GWNF Management Plan”), https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/
FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd525098.pdf.

 3
be administered primarily as a footpath,” 16 U.S.C.
§ 1244(a)(1), the Act draws a “distinction” between the
footpath and the land it traverses. USFS Br. 27;
see also Atlantic Br. 36-37. That is a non sequitur.
The “footpath” qualification, as the Forest Service
concedes, means that the Trail is intended primarily
for use by pedestrians, as opposed to mountain bikers
or ATV drivers. A “footpath” is just land with a
particular purpose. Neither the Trails Act nor the
Organic Act distinguishes between “land” and “footpaths” any more than they distinguish between “land”
and the various monuments, historic buildings, parkways, and recreational areas that are also units of the
National Park System.
Land is what you walk on. The Appalachian Trail
cannot be separated from the land that constitutes
it. Petitioners’ argument that it can is inconsistent
with ordinary English usage, the language of three
statutes, longstanding agency practice, and the solid
reality of the Trail’s existence as land upon which
generations of hikers have walked, and their children
and grandchildren will walk.
“The land was ours before we were the land’s,” wrote
Robert Frost. This land, this Trail, belongs to the
American people. Their representatives in Congress
have directed that it shall be administered by the Park
Service “in such manner and by such means as will
leave [it] unimpaired for the enjoyment of future
generations.” 54 U.S.C. § 100101(a). Only Congress
has the power to change that mandate.

 4
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
A. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail and
the National Park System
None who has seen [the Appalachian Trail] has
not marveled; none who has traveled it has not
been moved.
Stewart Udall
Secretary of the Interior (1961-1969)
The National Park System has been called America’s “crown jewels.”3 Among those jewels is the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Maine to Georgia. The
landscapes through which the Trail passes have been
revered for centuries as iconic parts of the Eastern
Seaboard’s natural heritage.
The Appalachian Trail was proposed in the 1920s
and completed by volunteers in 1931. Since that time,
the Trail has held a unique place as the nation’s
premier long-distance hiking trail. Groups began
attempting through-hikes of the Trail’s entire length
almost immediately after it opened. These throughhikers have received national attention, including the
first solo through-hiker in 1948,4 and a 67-year-old
grandmother who famously told her adult children
in 1955 that she was “going for a walk” before proceeding to through-hike the Trail – a feat she repeated
twice more.5

3

See, e.g., Cecil Andrus, Secretary of the Interior, Protecting
the Crown Jewels,” 6 EPA J. 12, 13-14 (June 1979).
4

See Earl V. Shaffer, Walking with Spring: The First ThruHike of the Appalachian Trail (1983).
5

See Ben Montgomery, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk (2014).

 5
The Appalachian Trail and its environs have been
celebrated in American nature writing from Henry
David Thoreau’s The Maine Woods through Bill
Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. The Trail has been
emulated internationally, with more than a dozen
countries joining scenic hikes into an “International
Appalachian Trail” tracing the eons-old mountain
range of which the Appalachian Mountains were part.6
Congress recognized the Appalachian Trail in 1968
through the Trails Act. When the Trail was created
in the 1930s, it was assembled by volunteers from
federal, state, and private land. The Trails Act left
ownership and day-to-day management of Trail lands
with existing owners rather than condemning those
lands for federal ownership. See 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1).
But Congress charged the Secretary of the Interior
(the “Secretary”) with the “administ[ration]” of the
entire Trail, no matter who owns the land. Id. The
Secretary in turn designated the Park Service as the
Trail’s “land administering bureau.” 34 Fed. Reg.
14,337, 14,337 (Sept. 12, 1969).
That delegation makes the Appalachian Trail part
of the Park System. The Organic Act that established
the System in 19167 now defines it as “any area of
land and water administered by the Secretary,
acting through the [Park Service] Director, for park,
monument, historic, parkway, recreational, or other
purposes.” 54 U.S.C. § 100501. Congress chose that
definition carefully. Before 1970, the Service had a
complex patchwork of responsibility for various lands,
6

See Int’l Appalachian Trail, “About Us,” https://www.iat-sia.
org/about.
7 National Park Service Organic Act, ch. 408, 39 Stat. 535
(1916), codified as amended at 54 U.S.C. § 100101 et seq.

 6
even when the lands were federally owned. See H.R.
Rep. No. 91-1265, at 3 (1970) (describing existing
statutory authorities as “almost devoid of uniformity”).
To replace that patchwork, Congress created “one
National Park System” that unambiguously includes
every area the Park Service administers. 54 U.S.C.
§ 100101(b)(1)(B); see id. § 100101(b)(1)(D) (stating
legislative “purpose . . . to include all these areas in
the System and to clarify the authorities applicable to
the System”).
Lands administered by the Park Service are defined
as Park “System unit[s].” Id. § 100102(6). The Service
has repeatedly – including on the record in this case –
designated the Appalachian Trail as a “System unit.”
JA131. Under the Organic Act,
the fundamental purpose of the System units . . .
is to conserve the scenery, natural and historic
objects, and wild life in the System units and to
provide for the enjoyment of the scenery, natural
and historic objects, and wild life in such manner
and by such means as will leave them unimpaired
for the enjoyment of future generations.
54 U.S.C. § 100101(a). The Park Service’s authorities
“shall be construed . . . in light of ” and not “exercised
in derogation of the values and purposes for which
the System units have been established, except as
directly and specifically provided by Congress.” Id.
§ 100101(b)(2).
The Appalachian Trail System unit is a protected
corridor, on average about 1,000 feet wide along the
full length of the Trail, “a swath of land” totaling
240,000 acres. JA97. “The NPS administers the
entire [Trail] and as such considers the entire Trail
corridor to be a part of the [Trail] park unit.” Id.

 7
B. Pipelines Crossing Federal Lands
The Trails Act does not provide specific rules for
easements and rights-of-way. Instead, it authorizes
the designated administrator of a trail,
[t]he Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of
Agriculture as the case may be, [to] grant easements and rights-of-way upon, over, under, across,
or along any component of the national trails
system in accordance with the laws applicable to
the national park system and the national forest
system, respectively . . . .
16 U.S.C. § 1248(a).
For oil-and-gas pipelines, the applicable law is the
Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, codified as amended
at 30 U.S.C. § 181 et seq. (“Leasing Act”). That Act
authorizes the Secretary of the Interior or appropriate
agency head to grant “[r]ights-of-way through any
Federal lands” for “pipeline[s]” that “transport[ ] oil,
natural gas, synthetic liquid or gaseous fuels.” Id.
§ 185(a). The pipeline authorization in § 185 uses a
special definition of “Federal lands” that carves out
“lands in the National Park System” and certain other
protected categories. Id. § 185(b)(1). Using separate
authority under the Organic Act, the Secretary may
grant rights-of-way “through a [Park] System unit”
for power lines, telephone lines, and certain “canals,
ditches, pipes and pipe lines, flumes, tunnels, or other
water conduits,” 54 U.S.C. § 100902(a)(1) – but not for
pipelines that carry oil or gas.
Because of the carve-out in the Leasing Act and the
absence of Organic Act authority, oil-and-gas pipelines
can obtain new rights-of-way across federal lands
in the Park System only through case-by-case legislation. Congress has authorized pipeline rights-ofway crossing System units “at Denali National Park,

 8
Glacier National Park, Great Smoky Mountains and
Gateway National Recreation Area.”8
Since the 1968 designation of the Appalachian Trail,
Congress has never authorized any oil or gas pipeline
to cross the Trail on federally owned land. To be clear,
some pipelines do cross the Trail. Those pipelines
were not authorized under the Leasing Act, but
instead cross on state or private land (to which the
Leasing Act does not apply) or on federal land using
an easement that predates federal ownership. Several
new pipeline projects have crossed the Trail using that
approach in recent years. Today, respondents know
of 55 pipeline crossings at 34 locations: 15 on nonfederal land, and 19 on federal land in easements that
predate either federal ownership or federal designation of the Trail as a Park System unit.9 There are no
crossings on any other federally owned lands. And no
pipeline has been built across the Trail on a new rightof-way over federally owned land since its inclusion in
the Park System.10
8

Statement of Timothy Spisak, Senior Advisor, Minerals and
Realty Management, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Dep’t of
Interior, Before the Subcomm. on Energy and Mineral Resources
of the H. Comm. on Natural Resources, on H.R. 2295, 114th Cong.
(May 20, 2015), https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/114/hr2295_
052015.
9 Letter from Southern Environmental Law Center to Forest
Service (June 24, 2019), https://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/file_list.
asp?document_id=14779685. As Atlantic notes (at 5), the Appalachian Trail crosses hundreds of miles of non-federal lands
throughout the Trail corridor – approximately 24% of land in the
park unit. See 2019 Acreage Report, Listing of Acreage at 1.
10

A 2013 decision by the Forest Service authorized a pipeline
to proceed alongside a preexisting pipeline right-of-way over the
Appalachian Trail on federal land. See Forest Serv., Decision

 9
C. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline Application
In September 2015, petitioner Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC (“Atlantic”) applied to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) for permission to
construct a 604-mile natural-gas pipeline (the “Pipeline”) from West Virginia to North Carolina. App.
2a.11
Atlantic’s planned route for the Pipeline
includes 21 miles of land in the George Washington
National Forest and the Monongahela National Forest
(together, the “Forests”). App. 2a-3a. That route
crosses the Appalachian Trail near Reed’s Gap,
Virginia, along a ridgeline where Augusta and Nelson
Counties meet. JA60.
Atlantic plans to clear-cut a 125-foot right-of-way for
most of the Pipeline’s distance, including lands visible
from the Appalachian Trail. App. 3a; C.A.App.1822.
Atlantic will blast and flatten Forest mountain
ridgelines to make room to work, and will dig or
blast a (typically) eight-foot trench to lay its pipe.
C.A.App.1522-23. After the Pipeline is laid, Atlantic
will continue to maintain a 50-foot cleared right-ofway for most of its length. C.A.App.10.
Atlantic plans to cross the Forests in areas with
steep slopes, C.A.App.1605, 1611, 1629; high potential
Notice, Columbia Gas, Giles County, Virginia (Nov. 22, 2013),
https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/93590_FSPLT3_
1462661.pdf. The Trail was rerouted before new pipeline construction began. No new crossing occurred on federal land. See
Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Major Section of the Appalachian Trail in Southwest Virginia Permanently Protected (Apr.
9, 2014), http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/community/news/
2014/04/09/major-section-of-the-appalachian-trail-in-southwestvirginia-permanently-protected.
11

Citations to “App. __a” are to the appendix in No. 18-1584;
citations to “C.A.App.__” are to the Fourth Circuit appendix.

 10
for erosion, C.A.App.1619-20; low potential for revegetation, C.A.App.1625; high rainfall, increasing
landslide risks, C.A.App.1708-09; and sensitive karst
terrain, C.A.App.1575, 1610, 1615.12 Atlantic also
plans to cross 57 rivers, streams, and lakes within the
Forests – 30 for the Pipeline and 27 for access roads.
C.A.App.1659.
Where the Pipeline crosses the Appalachian Trail,
Atlantic plans to use horizontal drilling to make a
borehole one mile long and three-and-a-half feet wide.
Drilling will require Atlantic to run heavy machinery,
like drilling rigs, mud pumps, cranes, backhoes, and
engine-driven light plants, around the clock for more
than a year, on either side of the Trail. C.A.App.44,
1810-11. Construction noise will affect Trail use, and
24-hour lighting of Atlantic’s machinery will dim the
stars visible from the Trail. JA79-80. The success
of the mile-long horizontal drill is not at all certain.
Atlantic’s contingency plan is to use the “direct pipe”
method further up the mountainside, “which is
expected to intensify the disruptive effects of the pipeline.” Sierra Club v. United States Dep’t of Interior,
899 F.3d 260, 294 (4th Cir. 2018).
D. The Agency Proceedings
FERC took the role of lead agency for purposes of
issuing an Environmental Impact Statement (“Statement”) concerning Atlantic’s applications. The Forest
Service provided comments during the process and
ultimately adopted FERC’s final Statement. The
administrative record shows that the Pipeline would
cross ecologically important areas of the Forests;
12 “Karst” is terrain with features such as sinkholes and caves
formed by the action of groundwater on soluble rocks such as
limestone; in such terrain, groundwater contamination can
spread in unexpected ways. C.A.App.1322, 1324.

 11
increase soil erosion and sedimentation; risk landslides, debris flows, slope failures, and contamination
of groundwater and soil; and displace wildlife habitat,
some of which could take “50 years or longer” to
recover. C.A.App.1468-70, 1604, 1611, 1630, 1682-83.
FERC’s Statement also observed that the Park Service is “the lead federal agency for the administration
of the entire [Trail],” which “is a ‘unit’ of the national
park system.” JA87.
Respondents are a group of environmental organizations whose members regularly visit, hike, and fish
in the Forest areas that the Pipeline would affect, and
intend to continue doing so in the future. Resp. C.A.
Br. 3-5. They submitted comments arguing that the
Pipeline created serious environmental risks to the
Forests, including impacts associated with the Appalachian Trail crossing; that the record was inadequate
to assess or effectively mitigate those risks; and that
Atlantic had improperly refused to evaluate route
alternatives that would avoid crossing the Trail on
federal land.
After notice of a draft decision and administrative
objections by respondents, on November 17, 2017, the
Forest Service granted the right-of-way under the
Leasing Act. C.A.App.1-63.13
E. The Fourth Circuit’s Decision
Respondents sought review in the Fourth Circuit. A
unanimous panel of the Fourth Circuit reversed and
remanded on four independent bases.
First, Atlantic’s Pipeline proposal did not comply
with mandatory standards for protecting soil, water
13 Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, one of petitioners’ amici,
also received Forest Service approval for a right-of-way to cross
the Appalachian Trail in the Jefferson National Forest in 2017,
shortly before Atlantic got its approval.

 12
quality, and wildlife in the management plans for the
two Forests. The Forest Service had amended those
plans to “weaken existing environmental standards in
order to accommodate the [Pipeline].” App. 21a. But
the agency erroneously disclaimed any need to test
those amendments against the minimum requirements of its Forest Planning Rule, 36 C.F.R. § 219.13.
App. 16a-29a.
Second, the Forest Service rejected alternative routes
that would avoid national forests without the analysis
required by the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C)(iii). Forest plan standards,
binding under the National Forest Management Act
of 1976, 16 U.S.C. § 1604(i), prohibit pipelines across
the forest if alternative routes are feasible. At least
three such routes14 were summarily dismissed without evaluation. App. 34a-42a.
Third, the Forest Service failed to take the requisite
hard look at landslide, erosion, and water-quality
degradation risks, including a required “detailed
statement” of mitigation to reduce those risks. The
Service conceded that the magnitude of those risks
was “unknown” and that Atlantic’s mitigation proposals were “unreliable,” but adopted those proposals
without change. App. 44a-45a.
Remand proceedings for those three issues are underway, and petitioners have not sought review of the
decision below so far as it remands on those grounds.
In its final holding, the Fourth Circuit concluded
that “the Forest Service does not have statutory
14 See C.A.App.3469-71 (potential crossing on private land);
Appalachian National Scenic Trail Resource Management Plan
I-26 (Sept. 2008) (“Trail Management Plan”) (confirming the Trail
crosses “two state land holdings” in Virginia), https://www.nps.
gov/appa/learn/nature/upload/AT_Resource_Management_Plan_
Ch_1.pdf.

 13
authority to grant pipeline rights of way across the
[Appalachian Trail] pursuant [to] the [Leasing Act].”
App. 59a. The Fourth Circuit reasoned that – as “the
parties agree” – the Trail is a “unit” of the Park System, and thus is outside the scope of the Leasing Act.
Petitioners sought rehearing en banc from the
Fourth Circuit. After no judge requested a poll, the
Fourth Circuit denied the petitions. App. 241a-242a.
This Court granted certiorari.
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
The result in this case is governed by the plain text
of three interconnecting statutes. The Mineral Leasing Act allows pipeline rights-of-way across federally
owned lands “except lands in the National Park
System.” 30 U.S.C. § 185(b)(1). The National Park
Service Organic Act defines that System to include
“any area of land . . . administered by the Secretary
[of the Interior], acting through” the Park Service.
54 U.S.C. § 100501. The National Trails System Act
states that “[t]he Appalachian Trail shall be administered . . . by the Secretary of the Interior,” 16 U.S.C.
§ 1244(a)(1), who delegated that duty to the Park Service. Accordingly, the Appalachian Trail is among the
“lands in the National Park System” administered by
the Park Service, and the Forest Service lacks authority under the Leasing Act to grant a pipeline right-ofway across the Trail on federally owned lands.
All of petitioners’ arguments to the contrary rely on
a fiction that attempts to divorce the Appalachian
Trail from the land it encompasses. The Park Service
administers the former, they argue, but not the latter.
That elusively metaphysical distinction is inconsistent with the relevant statutes and multiple federal
regulations, and contradicts the government’s own
longstanding approach to administering the Trail.

 14
ARGUMENT
I. THE FOREST SERVICE LACKS AUTHORITY
TO GRANT A PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAY
BECAUSE THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL IS
LAND IN THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM
A. Plain Statutory Text Places the Trail in
the Park System and Precludes Agency
Approval of Oil-and-Gas Pipelines
The only source of authority on which the government relies to allow a pipeline crossing the Appalachian Trail is the Mineral Leasing Act. That statute
enables “the Secretary of the Interior or appropriate
agency head” to grant pipeline rights-of-way “through
any Federal lands.” 30 U.S.C. § 185(a). “Federal
lands” for this purpose include “all lands owned
by the United States except lands in the National
Park System,” id. § 185(b) (emphasis added), and two
other exceptions. Because the Trail is “land[ ] in the
National Park System,” the Forest Service cannot
grant a right-of-way across it. Congress has reserved
that decision for itself alone.
The Appalachian Trail is land in the National Park
System under the plain language of the National Park
Service Organic Act. That statute defines the “term
‘National Park System,’ ” 54 U.S.C. § 100102(2), to
“include any area of land and water administered by
the Secretary [of the Interior], acting through the [Park
Service] Director, for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational, or other purposes.” Id. § 100501.
That inclusion is comprehensive: whether land or
water, “any area . . . administered” by the Secretary
through the Park Service, for any purpose, becomes
part of the System.

 15
The National Trails System Act, as enacted in 1968
and in force today, directs that “[t]he Appalachian
Trail shall be administered . . . by the Secretary of the
Interior.” 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1). Shortly after the
enactment of the Trails Act, the Secretary assigned
the “National Park Service” to act as the “land administering bureau” for the “Appalachian Trail.” 34 Fed.
Reg. at 14,337. Because the Secretary administers the
Trail through the Park Service, the Trail is in the Park
System as a matter of law.
There is no ambiguity here. No agency head can
authorize a pipeline over federal land in the Park System; land is in that System if it is administered by the
Secretary through the Park Service; and the Secretary
administers the Appalachian Trail through the Service. Accordingly, the Trail is “land[ ] in the National
Park System,” and the pipeline right-of-way Atlantic
seeks is prohibited unless Congress changes the law.
B. Statutory History Confirms That the
Appalachian Trail Is in the Park System
and Carved out of the Leasing Act
1. The 1970 General Authorities Act
The history of the 1970 General Authorities Act
(“Authorities Act”) confirms that Congress intended
to place all land administered by the National Park
Service – including the Appalachian Trail – in the
National Park System.
When Congress designated the Appalachian Trail
in 1968, existing law provided that the Park System
included “all federally owned or controlled lands”
administered by the Park Service for defined purposes.
Act of Aug. 8, 1953, ch. 384, § 2(a), 67 Stat. 495, 496,
formerly codified at 16 U.S.C. § 1c(a) (repealed 2014).
But other arrangements created confusion, such
as lands managed for recreation and situations in

 16
which lands “supervis[ed]” by the Service pursuant to
cooperative agreements were still “under the administrative jurisdiction” of other agencies. Id. § 2(b),
67 Stat. 496, formerly codified at 16 U.S.C. § 1c(b)
(repealed 2014). Those lands were defined as nonSystem “miscellaneous areas.” Id.
Congress eliminated that ambiguity with the
Authorities Act, which removed the “miscellaneous
areas” classification entirely and placed those areas
and any other “area of land and water . . . administered by” the Park Service into the Park System.
Pub. L. No. 91-383, § 2(a), 84 Stat. 825, 826 (current
54 U.S.C. § 100501). In the Act, Congress observed
that the System had grown to include areas “distinct
in character” but united by common purpose into “one
national park system,” and it declared its intent “to
include all such areas in the System.” Id. § 1, 84 Stat.
825 (current 54 U.S.C. § 100101(b)(1)(B), (D)). The
Act also identified “various authorities” available for
“administration and protection” of the new, unified
system, including the authority related to “rights-ofway” now codified at § 100902, see id. § 2(b), 84 Stat.
826 (citing former 16 U.S.C. § 5 (repealed 2014)) –
which does not include oil-and-gas pipelines.
Identical House and Senate reports explained that
the bill incorporated “all existing areas administered
by the National Park Service and all conceivable additions” into “one National Park System,” H.R. Rep. No.
91-1265, at 4, 10; S. Rep. No. 91-1014, at 3, 8-9 (1970);
and that the Secretary of the Interior supported
expanding the Park System to include recreation areas
and “areas[ ] administered pursuant to cooperative

 17
agreement” with other agencies. H.R. Rep. No. 911265, at 8; S. Rep. No. 91-1014, at 6 (same).15
2. The 1973 Leasing Act Amendments
Congress understood that the Appalachian Trail
was part of the Park System when it amended the
Leasing Act in 1973 to carve out federal “lands in
the National Park System,” 30 U.S.C. § 185(b), from
gas-pipeline rights-of-way authority. Before that
time, Leasing Act authority for rights-of-way had been
limited to “public lands,” Act of Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85,
§ 28, 41 Stat. 437, 449, a term of art referring to
certain federally owned lands that had never been
owned by any state or private individual.16 The pre1973 version of the Leasing Act also incorporated a
general exclusion from mineral leases for “national
parks and monuments”17 – an example of the old terminology that Congress clarified in the Authorities Act.
The 1973 amendments used the new terminology.
Congress expanded pipeline authority from “public
lands” to “all lands owned by the United States.”
Act of Nov. 16, 1973, Pub. L. No. 93-153, § 101, 87
Stat. 576, 577. Congress constrained that expanded
authority, however, by adding several exceptions.
15

See also Hearing on H.R. 14114 Before the Subcomm. on
Nat’l Parks and Recreation of the H. Comm. on Interior and
Insular Affairs, 91st Cong. 64 (1969) (Park Service Director:
“miscellaneous areas” outside the “definition of the system in
1953” are “now included in the system” by the 1970 amendment).
16 See Wallis v. Pan Am. Petroleum Corp., 384 U.S. 63, 65 &
n.2 (1966) (distinguishing “public domain lands” from “acquired
lands”).
17

Act of Aug. 8, 1946, ch. 916, § 1, 60 Stat. 950, 950; see also
Act of Aug. 7, 1947, ch. 513, § 3, 61 Stat. 913, 914 (similar leasing
exclusion for acquired lands).

 18
Under those exceptions, no agency has any authority
to permit pipelines through three categories of
protected federal “lands”: those “in the National Park
System,” those “held in trust for an Indian or Indian
tribe,” and those “on the Outer Continental Shelf.”
Id.18 Congress knew the significance of excluding
“lands in the National Park System,” as it had defined
that phrase and expanded the System three years
earlier in the Authorities Act. See Parker Drilling
Mgmt. Servs., Ltd. v. Newton, 139 S. Ct. 1881, 1890
(2019) (“Congress legislates against the backdrop of
existing law.”). The Senate report confirms that the
drafters had before them the particular statutory
provisions amended by that Act.19
Together, the Organic Act (as amended by the
Authorities Act) and the Leasing Act leave no doubt.
“[A]ny area of land and water administered by” the
Park Service is in the Park System. The Appalachian
Trail is one such area – as Congress knew when it
excluded all federal land “in the National Park
System” from the Leasing Act in 1973.

18 Congress similarly clarified after the Authorities Act that
other mining laws excluded the entire “National Park System.”
See, e.g., 54 U.S.C. § 100731(1) (application of mining laws to
“System units” conflicts with “purposes for which the System
units were established”); 30 U.S.C. § 1272(e)(1) (prohibiting
surface coal mining on “lands within the boundaries of units of
the National Park System”).
19

See S. Rep. No. 93-207, at 30 (1973) (citing “16 U.S.C. §§ 1
et seq.”).

 19
C. A Half-Century of Agency Interpretation
Acknowledges That the Appalachian Trail
Is “in the National Park System”
For almost 50 years, the Park Service has acknowledged that the Appalachian Trail is in the Park System and that the Authorities Act made it so. In 1972,
two years after the Authorities Act, the Park Service
identified the Trail as a “recreational area[ ]” that it
“administered.”20 In 1981, the Park Service issued a
“Comprehensive Plan” – also adopted by the Forest
Service – stating that “responsibility for overall Trail
administration lies with the National Park Service.”21
In 2005, a Park Service history stated that the Trail
was “brought into the National Park System” by the
Trails Act and that, with the Trail’s “inclusion in
the system, the [Service] became responsible for its
protection and maintenance within federally administered areas.”22 More recent Park Service guidance
20

NPS, National Parks & Landmarks 89 (capitalization omitted), http://npshistory.com/publications/index-1972.pdf.
21 NPS, Comprehensive Plan for the Protection, Management,
Development and Use of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail
12 (Sept. 1981) (“Comprehensive Plan”), http://appalachiantrailhistory.org/files/original/1a8be2dcf229787c95929fa49206
a8d0.pdf. The Plan further states that “land-managing agencies
retain their authority on lands under their jurisdiction” and that
“the National Park Service (with the Forest Service and the [Appalachian Trail] Conference)” will use “authority granted in the
[Trails Act]” to “ensure that adequate management procedures
are being followed.” Id. at 12-13. That mirrors the Trails Act’s
directive that Interior “administer[ ]” the Trail “in consultation”
with Agriculture, 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1), leaving some management responsibilities to other partners. See infra pp. 34-37.
22

NPS, The National Parks: Shaping the System 77 (2005),
https://go.usa.gov/xpRWS.

 20
confirms that the Authorities Act linked “administration of national trails and other national park
areas.”23 The Service has also confirmed to States and
conservation groups that it has “overall responsibility
for administration of ” the Trail.24
The Park Service continues to identify the Appalachian Trail as a unit of the Park System in official
publications even now. The Service’s latest index of
the Park System still lists the Trail as “a unit of th[at]
. . . System.”25 Its current Compendium of regulations
for the Trail, issued in October 2019, cites the Authorities Act as having “brought all areas administered by
the NPS into one National Park System.”26 Its budget
justification to Congress for 2020 identifies the Trail
as a “Park Base Unit[ ]” and as a “park[ ] that resides
in multiple regions” of the United States.27
The Park Service took the same position in this case,
reaffirming that it administers the entire trail as a
“unit” of the Park System. FERC’s draft Environmental Impact Statement incorrectly asserted that the
23

NPS, Director’s Order #45, § 2.2 (May 24, 2013), https://
www.nps.gov/policy/DOrders/DO_45.pdf.
24

E.g., Memorandum of Understanding for the Appalachian
National Scenic Trail in the State of Connecticut (June 1, 2012),
https://www.appalachiantrail.org/docs/local-management-planning-guide/2012-ct-at-mou.PDF?sfvrsn=6ae80d31_0.
25

NPS, The National Parks: Index 2012-2016, at 142 (2016),
https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/upload/NPIndex2012-2016.pdf.
26

NPS, Appalachian Trail Superintendent’s Compendium 2
(Oct. 1, 2019), https://www.nps.gov/appa/learn/management/
upload/APPA-October-2019-Compendium-of-Orders.pdf.
27 U.S. Dep’t of Interior, Budget Justifications and Performance Information – Fiscal Year 2020: National Park Service, at
Overview-16, ONPS-89, https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/
fy2020-nps-justification.pdf.

 21
Trail is “not . . . part of . . . the National Park system”
where it crosses the national forest. The Park Service
corrected FERC:
The [Appalachian Trail] is one of three national
trails administered by the NPS that are considered to be units of the National Park System. . . .
The NPS administers the entire [Trail] and as
such considers the entire Trail corridor to be a
part of the [Trail] park unit.
JA97 (emphases added). The Forest Service agreed,
stating that the Park Service “is the lead federal
administrator agency for the entire [Appalachian
Trail], regardless of land ownership.” JA126 (emphasis added). And FERC’s final Statement (which the
Forest Service adopted) recognized that the Park
Service administers “the entire [Trail].” JA77.
Those statements were correct. Administration, not
ownership, is what matters here. See Sturgeon v.
Frost, 139 S. Ct. 1066, 1076 (2019) (“Those statutory
grants of power [to the Park Service] make no distinctions based on the ownership of either lands or waters
. . . .”). As the Forest Service agrees (at 21-22 n.6),
federal land is owned by the United States, not by
individual agencies. Any federal land administered
by the Park Service is part of the Park System. This
Court should accordingly reject the government’s
new position that the Appalachian Trail is outside
the System.

 22
PETITIONERS CANNOT SEPARATE THE
“TRAIL” FROM THE FEDERAL “LANDS”
DEDICATED TO THE TRAIL
In administering the Appalachian Trail, the Park
Service exercises jurisdiction over a particular,
defined area of land. The Service’s Land Resources
Division publishes “official acreage data for all units
of the National Park System.”28 The agency identifies
the area of land protected for the Trails System unit
down to a hundredth of an acre: 239,844.32 acres of
land. See 2019 Acreage Report, Listing of Acreage at
1. The Forest Service similarly describes “about 9,000
acres” of land in the George Washington National Forest as part of the “Trail Corridor” and acknowledges
that the “Trail is administered by the Secretary of the
Interior.” GWNF Management Plan 4-42.
Nevertheless, petitioners now claim that the
240,000 acres that make up the Appalachian Trail
Park System unit are not “land”;29 or, relatedly, that
the land Atlantic’s Pipeline would cross is under the
exclusive jurisdiction of the Forest Service rather than
part of the Park System. Neither argument is tenable.
A. Common Usage, Statutory Text, and
Agency Practice Confirm That the Trail
Is an Area of Land
1. The Word “Trail” Ordinarily Refers to an
Area of Land
The Forest Service’s argument begins (at 26-27)
by misapplying the dictionary definition of “trail” –
contending that, because a trail, track, or path can be
28

NPS, Land Resources Div., National Park Service Acreage
Reports, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lwcf/acreagereports.htm.
29 Petitioners raised their argument that the Trail is not “land”
for the first time in this Court.

 23
defined as going “ ‘across,’ ‘over,’ or ‘through’ a region
of land,” a trail cannot itself be land. Those prepositions will not do the work the government’s argument
requires. It is common to describe one feature of the
land as going across, over, or through another. Taking
examples from the Appalachian Trail and its surroundings, anyone might say that the Great Smoky
Mountains stretch across the border between Tennessee and North Carolina; that the Franconia Ridge
runs over Mount Lincoln; and that the Delaware
Water Gap goes through a ridge of the Appalachians.
Yet no one would say that the Mountains, Ridge, or
Gap are not themselves land.30
The definition of “trail” quoted by the Forest Service
(at 26, a “blazed or otherwise marked path”) is entirely
consistent with common definitions of “land” –
whether defined generally as “[a]ny portion of the
surface of the earth” or, in a legal context, as “[a]ny
ground, soil, or earth whatsoever, regarded as the
subject of ownership . . . and everything annexed to it,
whether by nature . . . or by man.”31 Under either
definition, the Appalachian Trail is “land”: a part of
the earth’s surface defined by a worn, marked path.
The Trail’s corridor, over which the Park Service
asserts administrative jurisdiction, is likewise “land”
30 A “parkway” likewise goes across, over, or through a particular region. But there is no dispute that parkways are areas
of land in the Park System. See infra pp. 43-46 (discussing the
example of the Blue Ridge Parkway).
31

Webster’s New International Dictionary 1388 (2d ed. 1950)
(“Webster’s Second ”); see Webster’s Third New International
Dictionary 1268 (2002) (“Webster’s Third ”) (similar); see also
Black’s Law Dictionary 1019 (4th rev. ed. 1968) (“Black’s Fourth”)
(“any ground, soil, or earth whatsoever” and “also things of a
permanent nature affixed thereto or found therein”).

 24
in this ordinary sense, and is “regarded as the subject
of ownership” by its owner – the United States.
Outside this litigation, the government frequently
refers to the Appalachian Trail as land. The Trail’s
1981 Comprehensive Plan states that “[t]he body of
the Trail is provided by the lands it traverses.”32 The
Park Service’s Acreage Reports measure the Trails
System unit in “acres” – a measurement of land. See
supra pp. 2, 22. And in January 2019 the Service
issued a Reference Manual describing “[t]he Appalachian Trail” as “a unique land protection project.”33
Even the government’s Fourth Circuit brief referred
to “Trail lands,” USFS C.A. Br. 52, though denying
Park Service jurisdiction over them. Those examples
show that the government’s strained trail-land distinction has nothing to do with ordinary English.
2. The Trails Act and the Organic Act
Confirm That the Park Service Administers the Trail as an Area of Land
a. The language and structure of the Trails Act
reinforce the common-sense point that national trails
are areas of land. It directs that the “right-of-way” for
the Appalachian Trail shall, “[i]nsofar as practicable,”
32

Comprehensive Plan, Addendum (page 3 of PDF file). The
Forest Service (at 27-28) also cites the Plan but does not address
the text above. Instead, the agency asserts that the Plan “distinguish[es] the ‘Trail’ from the trail ‘corridor’ and ‘Trailway.’ ” The
term “Trail” can be and is used to refer interchangeably to the
narrower area of land on which hikers tread or to the broader
corridor area that the Park Service administers. See supra Part
I.C (examples). That said, the distinction makes no difference.
Even in its narrowest sense, the “Trail” is still an area of land
with a length and a width.
33 NPS, National Trails System: Reference Manual 45, at 221
(Jan. 2019) (“Reference Manual”), https://www.nps.gov/policy/
Reference_Manual_45.pdf.

 25
be as defined in specific maps, and shall “include
lands protected for it” by federal agencies. 16 U.S.C.
§ 1244(a)(1) (emphasis added). Other parts of the
Act refer to “federally administered lands [that]
are components of the National Trails System,” id.
§ 1246(a)(1)(A) (emphasis added), and acquisition of
“lands or interests therein to be utilized as [trail]
segments,” id. § 1246(e) (same). Those references to
“lands” as trail segments or trail system components
would make no sense if the Trail and its land were
mutually exclusive.
Separating national trails from the lands they cross
would also undermine the Trails Act’s stated aims.
Congress declared the objectives of establishing
national trails to include “promot[ing] the preservation of . . . the open-air, outdoor areas and historic
resources of the Nation,” id. § 1241(a), and directed
that national scenic trails “provide for . . . the conservation . . . of the nationally significant scenic, historic,
natural, or cultural qualities of the areas through which
[they] pass,” id. § 1242(a)(2). To do those things,
Congress gave the responsible agencies mandates to
protect national trails not only as abstract constructs,
but also as lands, each with a unique character.
The Trails Act’s use of the term “right-of-way”
further supports the point. “[R]ight-of-way” can have
either of two meanings: “[a] right of passage over
another person’s ground” or the “strip of land” over
which passage is permitted.34 Webster’s Second gives
examples (at 2148) including “[t]he land . . . occupied
by a railroad for its tracks”; “the strip of land over
which a public road is built”; and “the strip over which
34

Webster’s Second 2148; see also Webster’s Third 1956.
Atlantic (at 24) ignores the second of these definitions entirely.

 26
an electric power transmission line passes.” Decisions
of this Court have explained and applied that second
definition of “right-of-way”;35 and, when Congress
passed the Trails Act, the then-current edition of
Black’s Law Dictionary described that definition as
“often used.”36
The Trails Act uses this second definition of “rightof-way,” encompassing not just a hiker’s intangible
right to cross land, but the tangible area of land that
the hiker may cross. Only using that definition
can the Act intelligibly refer to trail rights-of-way
that “include lands,” 16 U.S.C. §§ 1244(a)(1), 1246(e);
“lands involved” in a right-of-way or right-of-way relocation, id. §§ 1244(b), 1246(b); “areas . . . included”
in a right-of-way, id. § 1246(d); “property within” a
right-of-way, id. § 1246(f )(1); and “the surface estate
of any portion of any right-of-way,” id. § 1248(e)(1).37
Petitioners err in relying on the statement in
§ 1246(a)(2) concerning trail rights-of-way that “run
35

See, e.g., ICC v. New York, N.H. & H.R.R. Co., 287 U.S. 178,
203 (1932) (Cardozo, J.) (“The rights of way . . . in view are those
that . . . result in the possession of the land itself . . . .”); Territory
of New Mexico v. United States Tr. Co. of New York, 172 U.S. 171,
182 (1898) (discussing both definitions); see also United States v.
Union Pac. R.R. Co., 353 U.S. 112, 123 (1957) (Frankfurter, J.,
dissenting) (quoting U.S. Trust Co.).
36

Black’s Fourth 1489 (“ ‘Right of way’ has a twofold significance, being sometimes used to mean the mere intangible right
to cross . . . and often used to otherwise indicate that strip of land
which a railroad appropriates to its own use . . . .”).
37

Even if the Trails Act were using the intangible-legal-right
definition of “right-of-way,” the term “land” embraces such “[a]n
interest or estate in land.” Webster’s Second 1388; Webster’s
Third 1268; see Black’s Fourth 1019 (“ ‘Land’ may include any
estate or interest in lands, either legal or equitable, easements,
incorporeal hereditaments.”).

 27
‘across Federal lands under the jurisdiction of another
Federal agency.’ ” USFS Br. 30 (emphasis omitted);
see Atlantic Br. 6, 24, 32. That language refers to the
process by which “the appropriate Secretary shall
select the rights-of-way for national scenic and national
historic trails.” 16 U.S.C. § 1246(a)(2) (emphasis
added). It does not imply that the second agency
continues to administer lands in the right-of-way after
that selection.38
As the Forest Service concedes (at 30), the Park Service’s authority as Appalachian Trail administrator
touches all federal lands dedicated to the Trail. For
example, the trail administrator decides which “uses
along the trail” are permitted, including whether
to “designate[ ]” a trail on “Federal lands” as being
“closed” to “motorized vehicles,” 16 U.S.C. § 1246(c);
“provide[s] for the development and maintenance”
of trails “within federally administered areas,” id.
§ 1246(h)(1); and regulates the “protection, management, development, and administration of trails,”
id. § 1246(i). Each of these authorities applies to all
federal land dedicated to the Trail.
It would be strange if, as petitioners would have it,
the agency charged with determining whether “uses”
will “substantially interfere with the nature and
purposes of the [T]rail,” id. § 1246(c), had no role in
deciding whether boring a pipeline through Trail
lands, with viewshed and other impacts, would cause
38 Atlantic goes so far as to characterize (at 36) the § 1246(a)(2)
process as the Park Service “obtaining a right-of-way from
the Forest Service.” But the United States owns the lands and
does not need a right-of-way (in the intangible-legal-right sense)
from itself. Like the other right-of-way provisions cited in text,
§ 1246(a)(2) makes sense only if “right-of-way” means the area of
federal land over which trail users will be authorized to cross.

 28
such substantial interference. To the contrary, the
Trails Act confirms that “[t]he Secretary charged with
the administration of each respective trail,” id.
§ 1244(d), makes decisions about rights-of-way across
the trail. When the Park Service is the designated
administrator, as it is for the Appalachian Trail, it
can grant “rights-of-way” across a trail, but only “in
accordance with the laws applicable to the national
park system,” id. § 1248(a), which do not extend to gas
pipelines. See supra pp. 7-8, 14-15.39
Contrary to petitioners’ suggestions, see USFS Br.
27; Atlantic Br. 23, Congress’s directive that the Trail
“be administered primarily as a footpath,” 16 U.S.C.
§ 1244(a)(1), is consistent with the Trail’s character
as an area of land. As the government concedes
(at 27), this statement of purpose simply indicates
that the Trail is set aside for pedestrians, as opposed

39

Section 1248(a) refers to “[t]he Secretary of the Interior or
the Secretary of Agriculture as the case may be.” That phrase
means the trail administrator because those are the two agency
heads given administrative authority in § 1243 and § 1244.
If that phrase instead meant the agency with jurisdiction over
surrounding lands, as petitioners’ reading would require, it
would have to mention other agencies such as the Smithsonian
Institution, the TVA, and the Army Corps of Engineers. See
NPS, Natural Resource Monitoring along the Appalachian NST
(“The Appalachian National Scenic Trail . . . crosses through . . .
three Tennessee Valley Authority properties [and] one Smithsonian Institute property . . . .”), https://www.nps.gov/im/netn/
appa.htm; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers’ trails designated as National Recreation Trails,
https://www.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/News-ReleaseArticle-View/Article/475454/us-army-corps-of-engineers-trailsdesignated-as-national-recreation-trails/.

 29
to mountain bikers or motorized vehicles. See Trail
Management Plan I-4.40
Similarly, petitioners fail to show that § 1244(d)(1)
distinguishes between national trails and the land
they occupy. E.g., USFS Br. 34. That provision
creates a temporary “advisory council” for each
trail, including representatives from “Federal department[s] . . . administering lands through which the
trail route passes.” 16 U.S.C. § 1244(d)(1). The phrase
“through which the trail route passes” refers not to the
land of the trail itself, but to the land of the surrounding region. Context makes that clear: Congress
also saved seats at the table for “each State through
which [a] trail passes,” id. § 1244(d)(2), and for nonprofits from “the various sections of the country
through which the Appalachian Trail passes,” id.
§ 1244(d)(3).41 Thus, the parts of the Trail at issue
“pass[ ]” simultaneously “through” the Forests, “through”
Virginia, and “through” the mid-Atlantic region. None

40

Petitioners’ “footpath” argument has another problem:
Congress used that word only in reference to the Appalachian
Trail. See 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1). Accordingly, if the phrase
“as a footpath” made a difference, then the Trail would be the
only national trail distinct from the land it occupies. Petitioners
offer no reason Congress would have created such a discrepancy.
41 The same is true of several other Trails Act provisions
Atlantic cites. See, e.g., Atlantic Br. 25-26 (citing 16 U.S.C.
§§ 1244(b), 1244(e), 1246(b)). Each provision refers to another
agency administering lands a proposed trail may pass through in
the future and that will surround the trail after it is created or
relocated. Similarly, a provision of the Blue Ridge Parkway Act,
16 U.S.C. § 460a-7(3), cited by Atlantic (at 31), which authorizes
relocation of the Appalachian Trail to locations “upon national
forest lands,” does not tacitly suggest Forest Service jurisdiction
over lands dedicated to the Trail; rather, it refers to possible
future locations of the Trail.

 30
of that conflicts with the Park Service’s administrative jurisdiction over Trail lands.
b. Neither can petitioners’ contention be squared
with the Park Service’s Organic Act. That Act places
within the “Park System” only “area[s] of land and
water,” 54 U.S.C. § 100501, administered by the Park
Service. Accordingly, the Trail must be an “area of
land,” or it cannot be part of the statutorily defined
System – contrary to the Park Service’s acknowledgments that the Trail is a Park System “unit.” See
supra pp. 19-21. Similarly, if the Trail were not an
“area of land,” the Secretary of the Interior would not
have identified the Park Service as the “land administering bureau” for the Trail. 34 Fed. Reg. at 14,337.
The statutory definition of a Park “System unit,”
codified in 2014, reinforces the point. Congress
defined “System unit” as “one of the areas” of “land
and water” encompassed by § 100501, replacing less
inclusive terms throughout the Code. 54 U.S.C.
§ 100102(6). The Forest Service now dismisses (at 4546) the long-established classification of the Trail as
a System unit as an “administrative listing” that predated the statutory definition. To the contrary, the
2014 definition of “System unit” codified42 a term used
in park-related legislation for more than 60 years.43
42 See Act of Dec. 19, 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-287, § 2(b), 128
Stat. 3094, 3094 (declaring an “intent . . . to conform to the
understood policy, intent, and purpose of Congress in the
original enactments”).
43

See, e.g., Act of July 11, 1956, ch. 568, § 1, 70 Stat. 527, 527
(combining a park and a monument “in a single national park
unit”); Act of July 20, 1956, ch. 653, § 1, 70 Stat. 592, 592 (identifying an area “dedicated and set apart as a unit of the National
Park System”); Act of Oct. 27, 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-589, § 4(a),

 31
Congress even used the same term when it originally
discussed the Authorities Act. See H.R. Rep. No.
91-1265, at 2 (describing that Act’s “basic purpose” as
“updat[ing] and clarify[ing] the law with respect to the
various units of the national park system”). Further,
the Park Service made no changes after the 2014
codification and still classifies the entire Trail as
a “unit of the National Park System.” See supra
pp. 20-21. And Congress continues to refer to “units
of the National Park System” to this day.44
The United States has also invoked Organic Act
authority to recover for damage to an Appalachian
Trail resource. See Compl. ¶ 1, United States v. Reed,
No. 1:05-cv-00010-GMW-PMS (W.D. Va. Feb. 7, 2005)
(“Reed Compl.”). The statute in Reed allowed recovery
for damages to resources “within the boundaries of a
unit of the National Park System,” 16 U.S.C. § 19jj(d)
(repealed 2014), and the United States alleged that
the Trail was such a unit. Reed Compl. ¶ 7. The
Trail segment at issue in Reed is collocated with the
Virginia Creeper Trail, which is managed by the

86 Stat. 1299, 1302 (directing that certain areas be “distinct and
identifiable units of the national park system”); Act of July 27,
1990, Pub. L. No. 101-337, § 4, 104 Stat. 379, 380 (authorizing
civil suits to recover for damaged “resource[s] located within a
unit of the National Park System”).
44

See, e.g., John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management,
and Recreation Act, Pub. L. No. 116-9, §§ 2301-2303, 133 Stat.
580, 743-46 (2019) (designating three “New Units of the National
Park System”); Act of Dec. 19, 2014, Pub. L. No. 113-291,
§ 3031(c)(1), 128 Stat. 3292, 3768 (establishing “a unit of the
National Park System,” wholly on non-federal land, on same date
that Congress codified term “System unit”).

 32
Forest Service45 – putting it on all fours with Trail
segments that cross national forests.
The Forest Service fails to solve its problem by
pointing (at 45) to trails the Park Service does not
count as System units. To be sure, the Park Service’s
assertion of discretion to choose which trails are
System units is arguably in tension with the statute.
But on the reading the government now advances, no
national trail could ever be a unit of the Park System.
That would create a square conflict between both the
pre-2014 and current versions of the Organic Act and
the agency’s longstanding practice – a good reason for
this Court to reject it.46
c. Atlantic’s overwrought characterization (at 43)
of the Trails Act and the Organic Act as effecting
a “massive land swap” is inaccurate. The Trails
Act does not “swap” anything, but instead adds Park
Service administrative authority and Park System
protections over lands made components of the Trails
System. In the Authorities Act, Congress unambiguously incorporated the Appalachian Trail – including
segments for which other agencies have some management responsibility (previously called non-System
“miscellaneous areas”) – into “one National Park
System.” See supra pp. 16-17. One consequence of that
45

See Virginia Creeper Trail (stating that the land underlying
the trail is either “private” or “owned and administered by
the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area,” a subdivision
of the Forest Service), https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_
DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5348037.pdf. Strictly speaking, of course,
the land is owned by the United States.
46 As the Forest Service acknowledges (at 46 n.12), the legislative testimony on which it relies includes a statement by the
Park Service’s Deputy Director that “the long-distance trails
administered by the National Park Service are, by law, part of
the National Park System.”

 33
choice is bringing additional lands within the Leasing
Act’s exception from pipeline rights-of-way.
It is not uncommon for the Park Service to administer park units that include land over which another
agency exercises some form of jurisdiction. The
Service’s annual Acreage Reports divide the “Federal
Acres” in the Park System into “NPS Fee Acres,” “NPS
Less than Fee Acres” (federal easements and the like),
and “Other Federal Fee Acres.” Although not defined,
this last category appears to indicate land that the
Service administers for one System-related purpose
(such as historical or recreational purpose) and another
agency simultaneously administers for another, nonSystem purpose. Examples include the Manhattan
Project National Historical Park, for which the Park
Service shares administration with the Department of
Energy, see 16 U.S.C. § 410uuu; 2019 Acreage Report,
Listing of Acreage at 9 (113.61 “Other Federal Fee”
acres); and the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National
Memorial, for which the Park Service shares administrative responsibility with the Department of Defense,
see Port Chicago National Memorial Act of 1992,
Pub. L. No. 102-562, tit. II, 106 Stat. 4234, 4235; 2019
Acreage Report, Listing of Acreage at 12 (5 “Other
Federal Fee” acres”). The Acreage Reports list at least
67 Park Service units that contain at least some
“Other Federal Fee Acres.” Examples include Acadia,
Channel Islands, Gates of the Arctic, and Grand Teton
National Parks, and many others. Petitioners’ current
position implies that all those established Park
units are wholly or partly outside the Park System –
recreating the very patchwork that Congress sought
to abolish in 1970 by creating “one National Park
System” with the Authorities Act.

 34
Further, more than 10 System units exist entirely
on non-federal land, including a park on land leased
from American Samoa, see 16 U.S.C. § 410qq-2, and
a park on city-owned land in New Orleans, see id.
§ 410bbb. Such System units are less clearly federal
“land” than the Appalachian Trail, and yet the Park
Service recognizes them as “System unit[s]” and
asserts administrative authority over them, explaining that the Authorities Act “brought all areas administered by the NPS into one National Park System.”47
If “area of land” is interpreted as petitioners now urge,
none of these undisputed System units would be land
in the Park System or be subject to the Park Service’s
Organic Act authority.
B. Neither the 1983 Trails Act Amendments
nor the 1911 Weeks Act Excludes the Trail
from the Park System
1. The 1983 Amendments Do Not Affect
the Park Service’s Administration of the
Trail
In 1983, Congress amended the Trails Act to provide
that “[n]othing contained in this Act” – as codified,
“this chapter” – “shall be deemed to transfer among
Federal agencies any management responsibilities
established under any other law for federally administered lands which are components of the National
Trails System.” National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983, Pub. L. No. 98-11, tit. II, § 207(a)(2),
47 See, e.g., NPS, National Park of American Samoa Superintendent’s Compendium (Sept. 4, 2014) (listing applicable
regulations under 36 C.F.R. pts. 1-7), https://www.nps.gov/npsa/
learn/management/superintendent-s-compendium.htm; NPS,
New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park Superintendent’s
Orders (Dec. 10, 2019) (same), https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/
management/upload/2019-2020-Signed-Superintendents-Orders12102019.pdf.

 35
97 Stat. 42, 45 (codified at 16 U.S.C. § 1246(a)(1)(A)).
Petitioners rely heavily on § 1246(a)(1)(A). E.g., USFS
Br. 19, 25, 29, 40-42; Atlantic Br. 23, 26, 32, 36. It will
not bear the weight they place on it.
As an initial matter, § 1246(a)(1)(A) wipes out petitioners’ key textual distinction by clarifying that the
“components of the National Trails System” – which
include the Appalachian Trail itself, see 16 U.S.C.
§ 1241(b) – “are,” themselves, “lands.” So much for
the (implausible) contention that the Trail is not land.
Moreover, nothing in § 1246(a)(1)(A) excludes the
lands that make up the Trail from the Park System.
Section 1246(a)(1)(A) draws a line between the “overall administration of a trail,” which rests with one
designated federal agency, and day-to-day “management responsibilities,” which can be divided among
federal agencies, as § 1246(a)(1)(B) contemplates,
but also with States, see id. § 1244(a)(10) (State of
Wisconsin), or private volunteers, see id. § 1250. The
trailwide authority to “administer[ ]” a trail, conveyed
by § 1244(a)(1), includes the authority to determine
permitted uses, provide for development and maintenance, and issue trailwide regulations. See supra
p. 27 (citing § 1246(c), (h)(1), (i)).
This difference between “administration” and
“management” matters because the Organic Act
defines the Park System as “land . . . administered
by the Secretary, acting through the [Park Service]
Director,” 54 U.S.C. § 100501 – not “managed” by
the Secretary. That is not because Congress forgot
the word “management” in the Organic Act.48 It is
48

Cf., e.g., 54 U.S.C. § 100502 (requiring “[g]eneral management plans” for System units); id. § 100507(c)(4)(B) (directing

 36
because Congress uses “administration,” in particular, to convey the kind of agency jurisdiction over land
that defines the Park System and limits of the Leasing
Act.49
The Park Service itself recognizes the difference
between “administration” and “management.” Its
guidance for the Trails System defines “[a]dministration” to include, in part, responsibility for “resource
preservation and protection,” “Federal funding and
staffing necessary to operate [a] trail,” and “exercising
trailwide authorities.” Reference Manual § 1.4.1. That
same guidance, defining “[m]anagement,” explains
that “[m]any government and private entities own or
manage lands and waters along each national trail,”
with responsibilities including “local visitor services”
and “managing visitor use.” Id.; see also id. § 3.1
(“Trail administration is distinguished from on-theground trail management . . . .”); Director’s Order #45,
§ 3.6 (making a similar distinction).
Congress was careful not to disrupt the authority of
the Trail administrator, or its jurisdiction over federal
land, when it amended the Trails Act in 1983. If Congress had wanted to remove the Appalachian Trail
from the Park System in 1983, it would have stated
that the Trails Act does not transfer “administrative”
consideration of whether “direct [Park] Service management
or alternative protection” is appropriate for proposed units);
id. § 100706 (concerning the use of “scientific study for System
unit management decisions”).
49 See, e.g., 16 U.S.C. § 460a-2 (directing Park Service to
“administer[ ]” national forest segments committed to Blue Ridge
Parkway); id. § 521 (providing Weeks Act lands are “administered” as national forests); id. § 1281(c) (Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act providing authorities to Interior for “administration” of
national rivers); 43 U.S.C. § 1702(e) (defining “public lands” as
land “administered” by Bureau of Land Management).

 37
authority between agencies, instead of preserving only
“management responsibilities.” As alternatives, Congress could have “deemed” national trails to be outside
the Park System, as it has done in other contexts, e.g.,
Sturgeon, 139 S. Ct. at 1081; or, as with some national
rivers, Congress could have allowed the agencies to
decide among themselves which should be administrator, see 16 U.S.C. § 1274(a)(5). But Congress would
not have used a savings clause about “management
responsibilities” to achieve that result.
Petitioners’ reading of § 1246(a)(1)(A) has two
other fatal flaws. First, that provision rules out only
“transfer[s] among Federal agencies” of “management
responsibilities.” Even if pipeline right-of-way authority were a “management responsibilit[y],” as Atlantic
incorrectly argues (at 26), there is no “transfer” here
of that authority “among Federal agencies.” Instead,
that authority is gone entirely – because, as all agree,
under the Leasing Act no agency can grant pipeline
rights-of-way through federal “land[ ] in the National
Park System.” See USFS Br. 3; Atlantic Br. 10. To
the extent that authority now exists anywhere in the
federal government, it belongs to Congress.
Second, § 1246(a)(1)(A) is a rule of construction
solely for provisions “contained in this chapter” – that
is, the Trails Act. That Act does not itself either place
the Appalachian Trail within the Park System or
revoke gas-pipeline authority. Those results occurred
only after other events: the Secretary’s assignment
of administrative authority to the Park Service; the
Organic Act’s incorporation of all Service-administered
areas into a unified System; and the Leasing Act’s
carve-out for System lands in § 185(b)(1). See supra
pp. 14-18. Section 1246(a)(1)(A) does not speak to the
construction of the Organic Act or the Leasing Act.

 38
The relevant statutes all can be read in harmony.
The federal land Congress dedicated to the Appalachian Trail within the boundaries of national forests
is administered by the Park Service and consequently
is federal land in the Park System, carved out of
Leasing Act authority. The Forest Service retains
management responsibilities for Trail segments
within the Forests, consistent with its authority to use
land “for trail purposes,” 16 U.S.C. § 1246(d), including important matters such as “local visitor services,
managing visitor use, law enforcement, inventorying
and mapping of resources, planning and development
of trail segments or sites, site-specific compliance,
providing appropriate public access, site interpretation, trail maintenance, marking, resource preservation
and protection, and viewshed protection.” Reference
Manual § 1.4.1. That reservation of management
responsibilities, however, does not remove Trail
land administered by the Park Service from the Park
System. Nor does it authorize the Forest Service to
grant a gas-pipeline right-of-way under the Leasing
Act as though that statute did not exclude such lands.
2. The Weeks Act Does Not Affect the Park
Service’s Administration of the Trail
Years before the founding of the Park Service, the
creation of the Park System, or the Authorities Act,
the Weeks Act of 1911 funded the purchase of forest
land by the Secretary of Agriculture to protect navigable streams. See Ch. 186, 36 Stat. 961. One section
of that statute provides that purchased forest lands
“shall be permanently reserved, held, and administered
as national forest lands.” 16 U.S.C. § 521. Pointing to
this section, petitioners erroneously argue that the
George Washington National Forest is “permanently”

 39
administered by the Secretary of Agriculture, including the federal land comprising the Appalachian Trail.
USFS Br. 21-22; Atlantic Br. 26-27.
As an initial matter, the word “permanently” as
used in § 521 does not mean the status of Weeks Act
land cannot be changed by later statutes such as the
Trails Act or the Authorities Act. That would violate
the “principle . . . that one legislature cannot abridge
the powers of a succeeding legislature.” Fletcher v.
Peck, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 87, 135 (1810) (Marshall,
C.J.). Further, the Weeks Act itself shows that the
boundaries and administration of the national forests
remain mutable. The Secretary of Agriculture is
authorized to administratively “exchange . . . national
forest land” for other land that then becomes part of
the national forest. 16 U.S.C. § 516; see id. §§ 519a,
521c-521i.50 The boundaries of the national forests
have evolved greatly since 1911, as the Forest Service
has acquired, transferred, or lost administrative
authority over many tracts of land.51
In any event, the Trails Act and the Authorities Act
speak clearly about Congress’s intent in 1968 and
1970. The text of the Weeks Act confirms that Congress assigns agency jurisdiction for federal lands by
declaring how they will be “administered.” Id. § 521.
50 One provision bars the Secretary from selling “Federal lands

within” the “National Trails System,” 16 U.S.C. § 521i – further
evidence that Trails System components within the forests are
federal “lands.”
51 See U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Forest Serv., Lands & Realty
Mgmt. Staff, Establishment and Modification of National Forest
Boundaries and National Grasslands: A Chronological Record –
1891-2012 (2012), https://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/Documents/
Establishment%20and%20Modifications%20of%20National%20
Forest%20Boundaries%20and%20National%20Grasslands%20
1891%20to%202012.pdf.

 40
In 1968, Congress declared that “[t]he Appalachian
Trail shall be administered . . . by the Secretary of
the Interior,” whose “administrative responsibilities”
would be carried out using “authorities related to
units of the national park system.” Id. §§ 1244(a)(1),
1246(i). Those statements are unambiguous. Further,
Congress’s direction to perform such administration
“in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture,” id.
§ 1244(a)(1), shows a specific decision that the role of
the Secretary of Agriculture (and the Forest Service)
should be consultation, not administration.
Section 1244(a)(1) is not only clear, but also much
more specific than § 521 – dealing with the administration of a specific trail rather than with all federal
lands held as national forests. The canon that “the
specific governs the general,” e.g., RadLAX Gateway
Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated Bank, 566 U.S. 639, 645
(2012) (citation omitted), thus supports reading the
Trails Act according to its terms. Petitioners’ contrary
reading would avoid making that Act superfluous only
by giving it a strained reading in which the Appalachian Trail and its underlying lands would be subject
to separate administrative regimes.
None of this is a disfavored “implied[ ] repeal” of
§ 521, as Atlantic contends (at 18). There is nothing
implied about Congress’s words in the Trails Act
or the Authorities Act. But, even if there were, “the
implications of a statute may be altered by the implications of a later statute,” particularly “where the scope
of the earlier statute is broad but the subsequent
statutes more specifically address the topic at hand.”
FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S.
120, 143 (2000) (citation omitted). That is true even
where the earlier statute “has not been expressly
amended.” Id. (citations and brackets omitted).

 41
There is no tension between Congress declaring
a large area to be “permanently . . . administered
as national forest land[ ],” 16 U.S.C. § 521, and
later designating a corridor of that land with
special significance for more protective treatment as
part of the Park System. Atlantic’s contention that
Congress could achieve that result only by specifically
referring to and partially repealing § 521 cannot
withstand scrutiny.
C. Petitioners’ Other Statutory Arguments
Fall Short
Roaming even farther from the plain language of
the Trails, Organic, and Leasing Acts, petitioners offer
comparisons to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Pub.
L. No. 90-542, § 6, 82 Stat. 906, 912 (1968) (“Rivers
Act”) (codified, as amended, at 16 U.S.C. § 1277), and
several acts relating to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
USFS Br. 22-23; Atlantic Br. 28-30. Neither comparison helps them.
1. The Rivers Act Does Not Support Petitioners’ Reading of the Trails Act
Petitioners err in suggesting that this Court should
read the Rivers Act as a guide to the meaning of the
Trails Act. The Rivers Act provides that any national
river “administered by the . . . Park Service shall
become a part of the national park system,” 16 U.S.C.
§ 1281(c), and that agencies with “administrative jurisdiction” over lands within the boundaries of such a
river may “transfer to the appropriate secretary jurisdiction over such lands,” id. § 1277(e). Other federal
legislation contains similar language.52 Pointing to
52

E.g., Federal Water Project Recreation Act, Pub. L. No.
89-72, § 7(c), 79 Stat. 213, 217 (1965) (codified at 16 U.S.C.

 42
those provisions, petitioners argue that Congress
places federal land in the National Park System only
with those words. USFS Br. 22-23; Atlantic Br. 28-30.
That argument rebuts a reading of the Trails Act
that neither respondents nor the Fourth Circuit have
advanced. There is no dispute that the Trails Act,
standing alone, did not make the Appalachian Trail
part of the Park System. Two additional steps were
required: the Secretary of the Interior had to assign
administration of the Trail to the Park Service, and
Congress had to broaden the definition of the Park
System (in the Authorities Act) to embrace all areas
of land administered by the Park Service. See supra
pp. 14-18. To be sure, that chain of three steps ultimately reached a result that Congress achieved immediately in the Rivers Act. But no canon of construction
presumes that different statutory structures cannot
reach similar endpoints. Cf. United States v. Beasley,
12 F.3d 280, 284 (1st Cir. 1993) (Breyer, C.J.) (“Congress can embody a similar scope-of-coverage intent
in different ways in different statutes.”). And, even if
there were one, the Authorities Act would be clear
enough to overcome it.
Other provisions of the Rivers Act, moreover, suggest
that Congress meant it to function similarly to the
Trails Act. Once the Park Service acquires administrative authority, the two statutes use near-identical
language to empower the Service to exercise “authorities related to units of the national park system” in
“carrying out . . . administrative responsibilities” for
trails, 16 U.S.C. § 1246(i), and “in . . . administration”
of rivers, id. § 1281(c). Similarly, nearly identical text
authorizes the Park Service as administrator to issue
§ 460l-18(c)) (authorizing “transfer [of ] jurisdiction over project
lands” to the Secretary of Agriculture”).

 43
“rights-of-way upon, over, under” a national trail
or river “in accordance with the laws applicable to
the national park system.” Id. §§ 1248(a), 1284(g).
If Congress had meant the statutes to work as differently as petitioners contend, those parallel provisions
would not be there.
2. The Blue Ridge Parkway Acts Confirm
the Trail Is Land in the Park System
Like the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway
is a linear strip of land administered by the Park
Service; like the Trail, it includes lands originally
acquired for national forests under the Weeks Act.
Petitioners point to legislation concerning the Parkway in an attempt to show that Congress must use
particular words to place lands in the Park System.
USFS Br. 23; Atlantic Br. 30-31. The comparison in
fact supports respondents.
Petitioners point to a 1968 Act authorizing a neverconstructed extension of the Parkway into Georgia,
now codified at 16 U.S.C. § 460a-6,53 which authorized
the Forest Service to “transfer” land to the Park Service for the extension. E.g., USFS Br. 23. Petitioners
say that shows national forest land can be in the Park
System only if Congress “transfer[s]” it there. To the
contrary, the initial 1936 and 1940 Acts that created
the Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina, now
codified at 16 U.S.C. § 460a-2,54 state only that the
Parkway “shall be administered” by the Secretary of
the Interior through the Park Service and be “subject

53
54

Act of Oct. 9, 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-555, 82 Stat. 967.

Act of June 30, 1936, ch. 883, 49 Stat. 2041; Act of June 8,
1940, ch. 277, 54 Stat. 249-50.

 44
to” the Organic Act.55 The segments of the Parkway
authorized by those bills were constructed through
national forests56 without congressional direction to
“transfer jurisdiction” or “land” between agencies. No
party disputes that those segments of the Parkway
are federal “lands in the National Park System.”
The Parkway Acts thus confirm that Congress views
either form of words as sufficient – the assignment of
“administ[ration]” creates Park Service jurisdiction
over land in a national forest just as surely as the
“transfer” of jurisdiction does.
Petitioners also err in relying on 16 U.S.C. § 460a-3,
a provision authorizing “rights-of-way over, across,
and upon parkway lands, or for the use of parkway
lands by the owners or lessees of adjacent lands, for
such purposes . . . as [the Secretary of the Interior]
may determine to be not inconsistent with the use
of such lands for parkway purposes.” See Atlantic
Br. 31-32; see also USFS Br. 37-39 (citing similar
language in § 460a-8). Arguing that the Appalachian
Trail and the Parkway are “parallel,” Atlantic contends (at 32) that it would be “inconceivable,” and the
Forest Service (at 39) “anomalous,” for Congress to
have allowed oil-and-gas pipelines across one and not
the other. That argument fails for three reasons.
55

As with the Rivers Act, the textual variation between the
Parkway Act and the Trails Act does not show that Congress
excluded the Appalachian Trail from the Park System when it
assigned administration to the Secretary of the Interior without
mandating subdelegation to the Park Service – only that the
Trails Act alone did not place the Trail in that System in one step.
See supra pp. 14-18, 42.
56

See NPS, National Park Or National Forest? (explaining
that “[t]he Parkway travels through four national forests in
Virginia and North Carolina,” including the “George Washington
National Forest” and the “Jefferson National Forest”), https://
www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/np-versus-nf.htm.

 45
First, petitioners get their timing wrong. The
statutory language that became § 460a-3 was originally
passed in 1940. See 54 Stat. 250. Congress would
have needed more than usual foresight to contemplate
the interaction of that Act with the Trails Act, the
Organic Act, and the Leasing Act, three decades
before any of them were passed. To be sure, § 460a-8
replicated similar language in 1968, shortly after the
Trails Act. But there is no reason to think Congress
meant to do more than extend existing § 460a-3
authority to the proposed southern Parkway segment.
In any event, 1968 was still two years before the
Organic Act brought the Appalachian Trail into the
Park System and five years before the Leasing Act
carved the System out of oil-and-gas pipeline authority.
Second, petitioners get their geography wrong.
The Parkway and the Appalachian Trail do not stick
together for their entire lengths. At points, these two
linear park units are as much as 40 miles apart,
and the space between them encompasses the cities
of Roanoke, Virginia, and (most of ) Asheville, North
Carolina.57 Residents of either city might use a rightof-way, or services provided using a right-of-way, that
crosses the Parkway but not the Trail.
Third, the authority granted by § 460a-3 and
§ 460a-8 is not limited to (if it even includes at all)
oil-and-gas pipelines.58 It likely contemplates other
57 See NPS, Blue Ridge Parkway Maps, https://www.nps.gov/
carto/app/#!/maps/alphacode/BLRI.
58

Section 460a-3 is titled “[l]icenses or permits to owners of
adjacent lands” and refers to “owners or lessees of adjacent lands”
in its text. It is doubtful that such authority was meant to
include interstate pipelines or that such pipelines are “not . . .
inconsistent with parkway purposes.”

 46
rights-of-way such as roads, water pipes, and power
or communication lines. Some rights-of-way in those
categories are currently authorized in Park System
units by § 100902, which did not exist in its current
form when § 460a-3 was passed.59
D. Petitioners’ Policy Arguments Are Irrelevant and Unfounded
The Fourth Circuit’s conclusion that the Forest
Service lacked authority to grant a pipeline right-ofway across the Appalachian Trail follows the plain
language of the Trails Act, the Organic Act, and the
Leasing Act. There is accordingly no need for this
Court to weigh the policy concerns pressed by petitioners and their amici. See United States v. Ron Pair
Enters., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241 (1989) (“[W]here . . .
the statute’s language is plain, ‘the sole function of the
courts is to enforce it according to its terms.’ ”) (quoting
Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470, 485 (1917)).
In any event, those concerns are without basis.
1. Atlantic contends (at 41) that the Fourth Circuit’s plain-language reading of the Trails Act and the
Leasing Act amounts to a “massive uncompensated
transfer of property rights.” To be clear, Atlantic does
not claim that its own property rights have been
taken. Rather, it argues that classifying the Appalachian Trail as part of the “Park System” would preclude state and private owners of Trail lands from
authorizing pipelines to traverse their property, see
id., which Atlantic thinks would be bad policy.
59 The pre-1936 predecessors to § 100902 were differently
phrased and contained various limits. See Act of Feb. 15, 1901,
ch. 372, 31 Stat. 790, formerly codified at 16 U.S.C. § 79 (repealed
2014); Act of Mar. 4, 1911, ch. 238, 36 Stat. 1253, formerly
codified at 16 U.S.C. § 5 (repealed 2014). Congress could easily
have felt the need to supplement them with a Parkway-specific
provision for local landowners.

 47
Atlantic misreads the Leasing Act, which governs
decisions regarding “[r]ights-of-way through . . .
Federal lands,” 30 U.S.C. § 185(a), defined (with
exceptions) as “lands owned by the United States,”
id. § 185(b)(1) (emphasis added). Neither the Leasing
Act nor its exclusion for the Park System addresses
the ability of a state or private landowner to grant a
pipeline right-of-way. Rather, those landowners grant
rights-of-way under state law – using the same statelaw property rights that they or their predecessors
employed to grant the United States an easement for
the Appalachian Trail in the first place.
To be sure, the inclusion of the Appalachian Trail in
the Park System gives the Park Service some authority (if it chooses to exercise it) over land the United
States does not own; but that is nothing new or untoward. As this Court explained just last Term, the
Park Service “has broad authority . . . to administer
both lands and waters within all system units,” and
it sometimes “impose[s] major restrictions” on “nonfederally owned lands” (frequently called “inholdings”)
“within [System unit] boundaries.” Sturgeon, 139 S.
Ct. at 1076. The Service’s 2019 Acreage Report lists
338 Park System units that include at least some
“Private” acres, for a total of 2.6 million such acres
within the System. See Summary of Acreage at 1.
Nor is this unique to the Park Service; nearly half
of the lands in the eastern national forests are
private inholdings.60
2. Atlantic also errs in suggesting (at 48-49) that
the Fourth Circuit’s reading would imperil the approximately 50 existing pipelines that currently cross the
Appalachian Trail. Those pipelines cross on state60 See Forest Serv., National Forests on the Edge 3 n.1 (Aug.
2007), https://www.fs.fed.us/openspace/fote/GTR728.pdf.

 48
owned or privately owned land, to which the Leasing
Act does not apply, see 30 U.S.C. § 185(a); or where
the federal government took ownership subject to a
preexisting easement. See supra p. 8.
3. Both petitioners incorrectly argue that the
Fourth Circuit’s reading would lead to the “odd” result
of preventing the construction of a pipeline under
the Appalachian Trail, but allowing one beneath
the Pacific Crest Trail – which passes through the
Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks – because
the Secretary of Agriculture administers that trail.
Atlantic Br. 42-43; see USFS Br. 36-37. Petitioners
are certainly right that the Secretary of Agriculture
should not authorize a pipeline company to dig up the
Pacific Crest Trail where it runs through Yosemite or
Sequoia. But they are wrong for two reasons that such
a scenario is plausible.
First, petitioners overlook the constraints placed on
the Secretary of Agriculture by the Trails Act. That
Act permits him to authorize only those land uses
“which will not substantially interfere with the nature
and purposes of the trail,” and requires him “to avoid
activities incompatible with the purposes for which
such trails were established.” 16 U.S.C. § 1246(c).
Those constraints would not allow the Secretary to
turn a national scenic trail into a pipeline route.
Second, as shown by Atlantic’s current plans –
which require 125-foot clear-cutting around the Pipeline path, see supra p. 9 – it would be impossible for
a pipeline to follow the Pacific Crest Trail without
crossing adjacent lands administered by the Park
Service. And, even if theoretically possible, it would
be highly impractical (and certainly not cost-effective)
for a proposed pipeline to follow strictly all of the
twists and turns of the Pacific Crest Trail.

 49
4. Petitioners and their amici argue that the
Fourth Circuit’s decision should be reversed in service
of energy independence, lower prices for consumers,
and creating high-paying jobs. E.g., Atlantic Br.
47-48. The record before the agencies contains strong
responses to those self-serving assertions.61 But, as it
comes to this Court, this case is not about whether the
Pipeline is a good idea. It is about the statutory protection Congress has afforded to land in the National
Park System, including the iconic Appalachian Trail.
When the Trails Act, the Organic Act, and the Leasing
Act are given their plain meaning, they show that
petitioners have directed their complaints to the
wrong place. Congress, and Congress alone, can give
Atlantic the permission it seeks to put its Pipeline
across federal lands in the Park System.
CONCLUSION
The court of appeals’ judgment should be affirmed.

61 See C.A.App. 1062-65, 1067-71 (Objection to USFS Draft
Record of Decision); see also Order at 2-3, 6-8, In re: Virginia
Electric and Power Company’s Integrated Resource Plan, Case
No. PUR-2018-00065 (Va. State Corp. Comm’n Dec. 7, 2018)
(finding Dominion Energy has “consistently overstated” energy
demand forecasts and rejecting the company’s energy plan),
http://www.scc.virginia.gov/docketsearch/DOCS/4d5g01!.PDF.

 50
Respectfully submitted,
NATHAN MATTHEWS
SIERRA CLUB
ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW PROGRAM
2101 Webster Street
Suite 1300
Oakland, CA 94612
(415) 977-5695
Counsel for Respondents
Sierra Club and
Wild Virginia, Inc.

MICHAEL K. KELLOGG
Counsel of Record
GREGORY G. RAPAWY
BRADLEY E. OPPENHEIMER
KELLOGG, HANSEN, TODD,
FIGEL & FREDERICK, P.L.L.C.
1615 M Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 326-7900
(mkellogg@kellogghansen.com)
AUSTIN D. GERKEN, JR.
AMELIA BURNETTE
J. PATRICK HUNTER
SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW CENTER
48 Patton Avenue, Suite 304
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 258-2023
GREGORY BUPPERT
SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW CENTER
201 West Main Street, Suite 14
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 977-4090

January 15, 2020

Counsel for Respondents
Cowpasture River Preservation
Association, Highlanders for
Responsible Development,
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields
Foundation, Shenandoah Valley
Network, and Virginia Wilderness
Committee

 ADDENDUM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Mineral Leasing Act, 30 U.S.C. § 181 et seq.:
§ 28(a)-(b), 30 U.S.C. § 185(a)-(b) ................... Add. 1
National Park Service Organic Act, 54 U.S.C.
§ 100101 et seq.:
54 U.S.C. § 100101 ........................................ Add. 2
54 U.S.C. § 100102 ........................................ Add. 3
54 U.S.C. § 100501 ........................................ Add. 4
National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1241
et seq.:
§ 5(a)(1), 16 U.S.C. § 1244(a)(1) .................... Add. 4
§ 5(d), 16 U.S.C. § 1244(d) ............................. Add. 5
§ 7, 16 U.S.C. § 1246...................................... Add. 7
§ 9(a), 16 U.S.C. § 1248(a) ........................... Add. 18
Weeks Act, ch. 186, 36 Stat. 961 (1911) (as
amended):
§ 11, 16 U.S.C. § 521.................................... Add. 19
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1271
et seq.:
§ 10, 16 U.S.C. § 1281 .................................. Add. 19
Blue Ridge Parkway Acts:
16 U.S.C. § 460a-2 ....................................... Add. 21
16 U.S.C. § 460a-3 ....................................... Add. 23
16 U.S.C. § 460a-6 ....................................... Add. 23
16 U.S.C. § 460a-8 ....................................... Add. 24

 Add. 1
1. Section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act, 30 U.S.C.
§ 185, provides in relevant part:
§ 185. Rights-of-way for pipelines through Federal lands
(a) Grant of authority
Rights-of-way through any Federal lands may be
granted by the Secretary of the Interior or appropriate
agency head for pipeline purposes for the transportation of oil, natural gas, synthetic liquid or gaseous
fuels, or any refined product produced therefrom to
any applicant possessing the qualifications provided
in section 181 of this title in accordance with the
provisions of this section.
(b) Definitions
(1) For the purposes of this section “Federal lands”
means all lands owned by the United States except
lands in the National Park System, lands held in trust
for an Indian or Indian tribe, and lands on the Outer
Continental Shelf. A right-of-way through a Federal
reservation shall not be granted if the Secretary or
agency head determines that it would be inconsistent
with the purposes of the reservation.
(2) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior.
(3) “Agency head” means the head of any Federal
department or independent Federal office or agency,
other than the Secretary of the Interior, which has
jurisdiction over Federal lands.
***

 Add. 2
2. The National Park Service Organic Act, 54
U.S.C. § 100101, provides:
§ 100101. Promotion and regulation
(a) In General.—The Secretary, acting through the
Director of the National Park Service, shall promote
and regulate the use of the National Park System by
means and measures that conform to the fundamental
purpose of the System units, which purpose is to
conserve the scenery, natural and historic objects, and
wild life in the System units and to provide for the
enjoyment of the scenery, natural and historic objects,
and wild life in such manner and by such means
as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of
future generations.
(b) Declarations.—
(1) 1970 declarations.—Congress declares that
—
(A) the National Park System, which began
with establishment of Yellowstone National Park
in 1872, has since grown to include superlative
natural, historic, and recreation areas in every
major region of the United States and its territories and possessions;
(B) these areas, though distinct in character,
are united through their interrelated purposes
and resources into one National Park System as
cumulative expressions of a single national heritage;
(C) individually and collectively, these areas
derive increased national dignity and recognition
of their superb environmental quality through
their inclusion jointly with each other in one
System preserved and managed for the benefit

 Add. 3
and inspiration of all the people of the United
States; and
(D) it is the purpose of this division to include
all these areas in the System and to clarify the
authorities applicable to the System.
(2) 1978 reaffirmation.—Congress reaffirms,
declares, and directs that the promotion and regulation of the various System units shall be consistent
with and founded in the purpose established by subsection (a), to the common benefit of all the people
of the United States. The authorization of activities
shall be construed and the protection, management,
and administration of the System units shall be conducted in light of the high public value and integrity
of the System and shall not be exercised in derogation of the values and purposes for which the System
units have been established, except as directly and
specifically provided by Congress.
3. The National Park Service Organic Act, 54
U.S.C. § 100102, provides:
§ 100102. Definitions
In this title:
(1) Director.—The term “Director” means the
Director of the National Park Service.
(2) National park system.—The term “National
Park System” means the areas of land and water
described in section 100501 of this title.
(3) Secretary.—The term “Secretary” means the
Secretary of the Interior.
(4) Service.—The term “Service” means the
National Park Service.

 Add. 4
(5) System.—The term “System” means the
National Park System.
(6) System unit.—The term “System unit” means
one of the areas described in section 100501 of this
title.
4. The National Park Service Organic Act, 54
U.S.C. § 100501, provides:
§ 100501. Areas included in System
The System shall include any area of land and water
administered by the Secretary, acting through the
Director, for park, monument, historic, parkway,
recreational, or other purposes.
5. Section 5 of the National Trails System Act,
16 U.S.C. § 1244, provides in relevant part:
§ 1244. National scenic and national historic
trails
(a) Establishment and designation; administration
National scenic and national historic trails shall be
authorized and designated only by Act of Congress.
There are hereby established the following National
Scenic and National Historic Trails:
(1) The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, a trail
of approximately two thousand miles extending
generally along the Appalachian Mountains from
Mount Katahdin, Maine, to Springer Mountain,
Georgia. Insofar as practicable, the right-of-way for
such trail shall comprise the trail depicted on the
maps identified as “Nationwide System of Trails,

 Add. 5
Proposed Appalachian Trail, NST-AT-101-May
1967”, which shall be on file and available for public
inspection in the office of the Director of the
National Park Service. Where practicable, such
rights-of-way shall include lands protected for it
under agreements in effect as of October 2, 1968, to
which Federal agencies and States were parties.
The Appalachian Trail shall be administered primarily as a footpath by the Secretary of the Interior,
in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture.
***
(d) Trail advisory councils; establishment and
termination; term and compensation; membership; chairman
The Secretary charged with the administration
of each respective trail shall, within one year of the
date of the addition of any national scenic or national
historic trail to the System, and within sixty days of
November 10, 1978, for the Appalachian and Pacific
Crest National Scenic Trails, establish an advisory
council for each such trail, each of which councils shall
expire ten years from the date of its establishment,
except that the Advisory Council established for the
Iditarod Historic Trail shall expire twenty years from
the date of its establishment. If the appropriate Secretary is unable to establish such an advisory council
because of the lack of adequate public interest, the
Secretary shall so advise the appropriate committees
of the Congress. The appropriate Secretary shall
consult with such council from time to time with
respect to matters relating to the trail, including the
selection of rights-of-way, standards for the erection
and maintenance of markers along the trail, and the
administration of the trail. The members of each

 Add. 6
advisory council, which shall not exceed thirty-five in
number, shall serve for a term of two years and without compensation as such, but the Secretary may pay,
upon vouchers signed by the chairman of the council,
the expenses reasonably incurred by the council and
its members in carrying out their responsibilities
under this section. Members of each council shall be
appointed by the appropriate Secretary as follows:
(1) the head of each Federal department or independent agency administering lands through which
the trail route passes, or his designee;
(2) a member appointed to represent each State
through which the trail passes, and such appointments shall be made from recommendations of the
Governors of such States;
(3) one or more members appointed to represent
private organizations, including corporate and
individual landowners and land users, which in the
opinion of the Secretary, have an established and
recognized interest in the trail, and such appointments shall be made from recommendations of the
heads of such organizations: Provided, That the
Appalachian Trail Conference shall be represented
by a sufficient number of persons to represent the
various sections of the country through which the
Appalachian Trail passes; and
(4) the Secretary shall designate one member to
be chairman and shall fill vacancies in the same
manner as the original appointment.
***

 Add. 7
6. Section 7 of the National Trails System Act,
16 U.S.C. § 1246, provides:
§ 1246. Administration and development
national trails system

of

(a) Consultation of Secretary with other agencies; transfer of management responsibilities; selection of rights-of-way; criteria for
selection; notice; impact upon established
uses
(1)(A) The Secretary charged with the overall
administration of a trail pursuant to section 1244(a)
of this title shall, in administering and managing
the trail, consult with the heads of all other affected
State and Federal agencies. Nothing contained in this
chapter shall be deemed to transfer among Federal
agencies any management responsibilities established
under any other law for federally administered lands
which are components of the National Trails System.
Any transfer of management responsibilities may be
carried out between the Secretary of the Interior and
the Secretary of Agriculture only as provided under
subparagraph (B).
(B) The Secretary charged with the overall administration of any trail pursuant to section 1244(a) of
this title may transfer management of any specified
trail segment of such trail to the other appropriate
Secretary pursuant to a joint memorandum of agreement containing such terms and conditions as the
Secretaries consider most appropriate to accomplish
the purposes of this chapter. During any period in
which management responsibilities for any trail
segment are transferred under such an agreement,
the management of any such segment shall be subject
to the laws, rules, and regulations of the Secretary
provided with the management authority under the

 Add. 8
agreement, except to such extent as the agreement
may otherwise expressly provide.
(2) Pursuant to section 1244(a) of this title, the
appropriate Secretary shall select the rights-of-way
for national scenic and national historic trails and
shall publish notice of the availability of appropriate
maps or descriptions in the Federal Register: Provided,
That in selecting the rights-of-way full consideration
shall be given to minimizing the adverse effects upon
the adjacent landowner or user and his operation.
Development and management of each segment of the
National Trails System shall be designed to harmonize with and complement any established multipleuse plans for that specific area in order to insure continued maximum benefits from the land. The location
and width of such rights-of-way across Federal lands
under the jurisdiction of another Federal agency shall
be by agreement between the head of that agency and
the appropriate Secretary. In selecting rights-of-way
for trail purposes, the Secretary shall obtain the
advice and assistance of the States, local governments,
private organizations, and landowners and land users
concerned.
(b) Relocation of segment of national, scenic or
historic, trail right-of-way; determination of
necessity with official having jurisdiction;
necessity for Act of Congress
After publication of notice of the availability of
appropriate maps or descriptions in the Federal
Register, the Secretary charged with the administration of a national scenic or national historic trail
may relocate segments of a national scenic or national
historic trail right-of-way, with the concurrence of the
head of the Federal agency having jurisdiction over
the lands involved, upon a determination that: (i) such

 Add. 9
a relocation is necessary to preserve the purposes for
which the trail was established, or (ii) the relocation
is necessary to promote a sound land management
program in accordance with established multiple-use
principles: Provided, That a substantial relocation
of the rights-of-way for such trail shall be by Act of
Congress.
(c) Facilities on national, scenic or historic,
trails; permissible activities; use of motorized vehicles; trail markers; establishment
of uniform marker; placement of uniform
markers; trail interpretation sites
National scenic or national historic trails may
contain campsites, shelters, and related-public-use
facilities. Other uses along the trail, which will not
substantially interfere with the nature and purposes
of the trail, may be permitted by the Secretary
charged with the administration of the trail. Reasonable efforts shall be made to provide sufficient
access opportunities to such trails and, to the extent
practicable, efforts shall be made to avoid activities
incompatible with the purposes for which such trails
were established. The use of motorized vehicles by
the general public along any national scenic trail shall
be prohibited and nothing in this chapter shall be
construed as authorizing the use of motorized vehicles
within the natural and historical areas of the national
park system, the national wildlife refuge system, the
national wilderness preservation system where they
are presently prohibited or on other Federal lands
where trails are designated as being closed to such
use by the appropriate Secretary: Provided, That the
Secretary charged with the administration of such
trail shall establish regulations which shall authorize
the use of motorized vehicles when, in his judgment,
such vehicles are necessary to meet emergencies or

 Add. 10
to enable adjacent landowners or land users to have
reasonable access to their lands or timber rights:
Provided further, That private lands included in the
national recreation, national scenic, or national historic trails by cooperative agreement of a landowner
shall not preclude such owner from using motorized
vehicles on or across such trails or adjacent lands from
time to time in accordance with regulations to be
established by the appropriate Secretary. Where a
national historic trail follows existing public roads,
developed rights-of-way or waterways, and similar
features of man’s nonhistorically related development,
approximating the original location of a historic route,
such segments may be marked to facilitate retracement of the historic route, and where a national historic trail parallels an existing public road, such road
may be marked to commemorate the historic route.
Other uses along the historic trails and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, which will not substantially interfere with the nature and purposes of
the trail, and which, at the time of designation, are
allowed by administrative regulations, including the
use of motorized vehicles, shall be permitted by the
Secretary charged with the administration of the trail.
The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture, in consultation with appropriate governmental agencies and public and private organizations,
shall establish a uniform marker, including thereon
an appropriate and distinctive symbol for each national
recreation, national scenic, and national historic trail.
Where the trails cross lands administered by Federal
agencies such markers shall be erected at appropriate
points along the trails and maintained by the Federal
agency administering the trail in accordance with
standards established by the appropriate Secretary
and where the trails cross non-Federal lands, in

 Add. 11
accordance with written cooperative agreements, the
appropriate Secretary shall provide such uniform
markers to cooperating agencies and shall require
such agencies to erect and maintain them in accordance with the standards established. The appropriate
Secretary may also provide for trail interpretation
sites, which shall be located at historic sites along the
route of any national scenic or national historic trail,
in order to present information to the public about the
trail, at the lowest possible cost, with emphasis on the
portion of the trail passing through the State in which
the site is located. Wherever possible, the sites shall
be maintained by a State agency under a cooperative
agreement between the appropriate Secretary and the
State agency.
(d) Use and acquisition of lands within exterior
boundaries of areas included within rightof-way
Within the exterior boundaries of areas under their
administration that are included in the right-of-way
selected for a national recreation, national scenic, or
national historic trail, the heads of Federal agencies
may use lands for trail purposes and may acquire
lands or interests in lands by written cooperative
agreement, donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds or exchange.
(e) Right-of-way lands outside exterior boundaries of federally administered areas; cooperative agreements or acquisition; failure to
agree or acquire; agreement or acquisition
by Secretary concerned; right of first refusal
for original owner upon disposal
Where the lands included in a national scenic or
national historic trail right-of-way are outside of the
exterior boundaries of federally administered areas,

 Add. 12
the Secretary charged with the administration of such
trail shall encourage the States or local governments
involved (1) to enter into written cooperative agreements with landowners, private organizations, and
individuals to provide the necessary trail right-of-way,
or (2) to acquire such lands or interests therein to be
utilized as segments of the national scenic or national
historic trail: Provided, That if the State or local
governments fail to enter into such written cooperative agreements or to acquire such lands or interests
therein after notice of the selection of the right-of-way
is published, the appropriate Secretary may (i) enter
into such agreements with landowners, States, local
governments, private organizations, and individuals
for the use of lands for trail purposes, or (ii) acquire
private lands or interests therein by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds or exchange
in accordance with the provisions of subsection (f ) of
this section: Provided further, That the appropriate
Secretary may acquire lands or interests therein from
local governments or governmental corporations with
the consent of such entities. The lands involved in
such rights-of-way should be acquired in fee, if other
methods of public control are not sufficient to assure
their use for the purpose for which they are acquired:
Provided, That if the Secretary charged with the
administration of such trail permanently relocates the
right-of-way and disposes of all title or interest in the
land, the original owner, or his heirs or assigns, shall
be offered, by notice given at the former owner’s last
known address, the right of first refusal at the fair
market price.

 Add. 13
(f ) Exchange of property within the right-ofway by Secretary of the Interior; property
subject to exchange; equalization of value of
property; exchange of national forest lands
by Secretary of Agriculture; tracts lying outside trail acquisition area
(1) The Secretary of the Interior, in the exercise
of his exchange authority, may accept title to any
non-Federal property within the right-of-way and in
exchange therefor he may convey to the grantor of
such property any federally owned property under his
jurisdiction which is located in the State wherein such
property is located and which he classifies as suitable
for exchange or other disposal. The values of the properties so exchanged either shall be approximately
equal, or if they are not approximately equal the
values shall be equalized by the payment of cash to
the grantor or to the Secretary as the circumstances
require. The Secretary of Agriculture, in the exercise
of his exchange authority, may utilize authorities
and procedures available to him in connection with
exchanges of national forest lands.
(2) In acquiring lands or interests therein for a
National Scenic or Historic Trail, the appropriate
Secretary may, with consent of a landowner, acquire
whole tracts notwithstanding that parts of such tracts
may lie outside the area of trail acquisition. In
furtherance of the purposes of this chapter, lands so
acquired outside the area of trail acquisition may be
exchanged for any non-Federal lands or interests
therein within the trail right-of-way, or disposed of
in accordance with such procedures or regulations as
the appropriate Secretary shall prescribe, including:
(i) provisions for conveyance of such acquired lands or
interests therein at not less than fair market value to
the highest bidder, and (ii) provisions for allowing the

 Add. 14
last owners of record a right to purchase said acquired
lands or interests therein upon payment or agreement
to pay an amount equal to the highest bid price.
For lands designated for exchange or disposal, the
appropriate Secretary may convey these lands with
any reservations or covenants deemed desirable to
further the purposes of this chapter. The proceeds
from any disposal shall be credited to the appropriation bearing the costs of land acquisition for the
affected trail.
(g) Condemnation proceedings to acquire private lands; limitations; availability of funds
for acquisition of lands or interests therein;
acquisition of high potential, route segments
or historic sites
The appropriate Secretary may utilize condemnation proceedings without the consent of the owner to
acquire private lands or interests therein pursuant to
this section only in cases where, in his judgment, all
reasonable efforts to acquire such lands or interests
therein by negotiation have failed, and in such cases
he shall acquire only such title as, in his judgment, is
reasonably necessary to provide passage across such
lands: Provided, That condemnation proceedings may
not be utilized to acquire fee title or lesser interests to
more than an average of one hundred and twenty-five
acres per mile. Money appropriated for Federal
purposes from the land and water conservation fund
shall, without prejudice to appropriations from other
sources, be available to Federal departments for the
acquisition of lands or interests in lands for the
purposes of this chapter. For national historic trails,
direct Federal acquisition for trail purposes shall be
limited to those areas indicated by the study report
or by the comprehensive plan as high potential route
segments or high potential historic sites. Except for

 Add. 15
designated protected components of the trail, no land
or site located along a designated national historic
trail or along the Continental Divide National Scenic
Trail shall be subject to the provisions of section 303
of title 49 unless such land or site is deemed to be of
historical significance under appropriate historical
site criteria such as those for the National Register of
Historic Places.
(h) Development and maintenance of national,
scenic or historic, trails; cooperation with
States over portions located outside of
federally administered areas; cooperative
agreements; participation of volunteers;
reservation of right-of-way for trails in
conveyances by Secretary of the Interior
(1) The Secretary charged with the administration
of a national recreation, national scenic, or national
historic trail shall provide for the development and
maintenance of such trails within federally administered areas and shall cooperate with and encourage
the States to operate, develop, and maintain portions
of such trails which are located outside the boundaries
of federally administered areas. When deemed to be in
the public interest, such Secretary may enter written
cooperative agreements with the States or their political subdivisions, landowners, private organizations,
or individuals to operate, develop, and maintain
any portion of such a trail either within or outside a
federally administered area. Such agreements may
include provisions for limited financial assistance to
encourage participation in the acquisition, protection,
operation, development, or maintenance of such trails,
provisions providing volunteer in the park or volunteer
in the forest status (in accordance with section 102301
of title 54 and the Volunteers in the Forests Act of
1972 [16 U.S.C. 558a et seq.]) to individuals, private

 Add. 16
organizations, or landowners participating in such
activities, or provisions of both types. The appropriate
Secretary shall also initiate consultations with affected
States and their political subdivisions to encourage—
(A) the development and implementation by such
entities of appropriate measures to protect private
landowners from trespass resulting from trail use
and from unreasonable personal liability and property damage caused by trail use, and
(B) the development and implementation by such
entities of provisions for land practices, compatible
with the purposes of this chapter,
for property within or adjacent to trail rights-of-way.
After consulting with States and their political subdivisions under the preceding sentence, the Secretary
may provide assistance to such entities under appropriate cooperative agreements in the manner provided
by this subsection.
(2) Whenever the Secretary of the Interior makes
any conveyance of land under any of the public land
laws, he may reserve a right-of-way for trails to the
extent he deems necessary to carry out the purposes
of this chapter.
(i) Regulations; issuance; concurrence and
consultation; revision; publication; violations;
penalties; utilization of national park or
national forest authorities
The appropriate Secretary, with the concurrence of
the heads of any other Federal agencies administering
lands through which a national recreation, national
scenic, or national historic trail passes, and after
consultation with the States, local governments, and
organizations concerned, may issue regulations, which
may be revised from time to time, governing the use,

 Add. 17
protection, management, development, and administration of trails of the national trails system. In
order to maintain good conduct on and along the trails
located within federally administered areas and to
provide for the proper government and protection
of such trails, the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe and publish
such uniform regulations as they deem necessary and
any person who violates such regulations shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be punished by a
fine of not more than $500, or by imprisonment not
exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. The Secretary responsible for the administration of any segment of any component of the National
Trails System (as determined in a manner consistent
with subsection (a)(1) of this section) may also utilize
authorities related to units of the national park
system or the national forest system, as the case may
be, in carrying out his administrative responsibilities
for such component.
(j) Types of trail use allowed
Potential trail uses allowed on designated components
of the national trails system may include, but are
not limited to, the following: bicycling, cross-country
skiing, day hiking, equestrian activities, jogging or
similar fitness activities, trail biking, overnight and
long-distance backpacking, snowmobiling, and surface
water and underwater activities. Vehicles which may
be permitted on certain trails may include, but need
not be limited to, motorcycles, bicycles, four-wheel
drive or all-terrain off-road vehicles. In addition, trail
access for handicapped individuals may be provided.
The provisions of this subsection shall not supersede
any other provisions of this chapter or other Federal
laws, or any State or local laws.

 Add. 18
(k) Donations or other conveyances of qualified
real property interests
For the conservation purpose of preserving or
enhancing the recreational, scenic, natural, or historical values of components of the national trails
system, and environs thereof as determined by the
appropriate Secretary, landowners are authorized to
donate or otherwise convey qualified real property
interests to qualified organizations consistent with
section 170(h)(3) of title 26, including, but not limited
to, right-of-way, open space, scenic, or conservation
easements, without regard to any limitation on the
nature of the estate or interest otherwise transferable
within the jurisdiction where the land is located. The
conveyance of any such interest in land in accordance
with this subsection shall be deemed to further a Federal conservation policy and yield a significant public
benefit for purposes of section 6 of Public Law 96-541.
7. Section 9(a) of the National Trails System Act,
16 U.S.C. § 1248(a), provides:
§ 1248. Easements and rights-of-way
(a) Authorization; conditions
The Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of
Agriculture as the case may be, may grant easements
and rights-of-way upon, over, under, across, or along
any component of the national trails system in accordance with the laws applicable to the national park
system and the national forest system, respectively:
Provided, That any conditions contained in such easements and rights-of-way shall be related to the policy
and purposes of this chapter.
***

 Add. 19
8. Section 11 of the Weeks Act, 16 U.S.C. § 521,
provides:
§ 521. Lands acquired to be reserved, held, and
administered as national forest lands;
designation
Subject to the provisions of section 519 of this title
the lands acquired under this Act shall be permanently
reserved, held, and administered as national forest
lands under the provisions of section 471 of this title
and acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof.
And the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time
divide the lands acquired under this Act into such
specific national forests and so designate the same as
he may deem best for administrative purposes.
9. Section 10 of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act,
16 U.S.C. § 1281, provides:
§ 1281. Administration
(a) Public use and enjoyment of components;
protection of features; management plans
Each component of the national wild and scenic
rivers system shall be administered in such manner
as to protect and enhance the values which caused it
to be included in said system without, insofar as is
consistent therewith, limiting other uses that do not
substantially interfere with public use and enjoyment
of these values. In such administration primary
emphasis shall be given to protecting its esthetic,
scenic, historic, archeologic, and scientific features.
Management plans for any such component may
establish varying degrees of intensity for its protection
and development, based on the special attributes of
the area.

 Add. 20
(b) Wilderness areas
Any portion of a component of the national wild
and scenic rivers system that is within the national
wilderness preservation system, as established by
or pursuant to the Wilderness Act [16 U.S.C. 1131
et seq.], shall be subject to the provisions of both
the Wilderness Act and this chapter with respect to
preservation of such river and its immediate environment, and in case of conflict between the provisions of
the Wilderness Act and this chapter the more restrictive provisions shall apply.
(c) Areas administered by National Park Service
and Fish and Wildlife Service
Any component of the national wild and scenic
rivers system that is administered by the Secretary of
the Interior through the National Park Service shall
become a part of the national park system, and any
such component that is administered by the Secretary
through the Fish and Wildlife Service shall become
a part of the national wildlife refuge system. The
lands involved shall be subject to the provisions of this
chapter and the Acts under which the national park
system or national wildlife system, as the case may be,
is administered, and in case of conflict between the
provisions of this chapter and such Acts, the more
restrictive provisions shall apply. The Secretary of the
Interior, in his administration of any component of the
national wild and scenic rivers system, may utilize
such general statutory authorities relating to areas of
the national park system and such general statutory
authorities otherwise available to him for recreation
and preservation purposes and for the conservation
and management of natural resources as he deems
appropriate to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

 Add. 21
(d) Statutory authorities relating to national
forests
The Secretary of Agriculture, in his administration
of any component of the national wild and scenic
rivers system area, may utilize the general statutory
authorities relating to the national forests in such
manner as he deems appropriate to carry out the
purposes of this chapter.
(e) Cooperative agreements with State and local
governments
The Federal agency charged with the administration of any component of the national wild and scenic
rivers system may enter into written cooperative
agreements with the Governor of a State, the head
of any State agency, or the appropriate official of a
political subdivision of a State for State or local
governmental participation in the administration of the
component. The States and their political subdivisions shall be encouraged to cooperate in the planning
and administration of components of the system which
include or adjoin State- or county-owned lands.
10. 16 U.S.C. § 460a-2 provides:
§ 460a-2. Blue Ridge Parkway; establishment;
administration and maintenance
All lands and easements heretofore or hereafter
conveyed to the United States by the States of Virginia
and North Carolina for the right-of-way for the projected parkway between the Shenandoah and Great
Smoky Mountains National Parks, together with sites
acquired or to be acquired for recreational areas in
connection therewith, and a right-of-way for said
parkway of a width sufficient to include the highway

 Add. 22
and all bridges, ditches, cuts, and fills appurtenant
thereto, but not exceeding a maximum of two hundred
feet through Government-owned lands (except that
where small parcels of Government-owned lands would
otherwise be isolated, or where topographic conditions
or scenic requirements are such that bridges, ditches,
cuts, fills, parking overlooks, landscape development,
recreational and other facilities requisite to public use
of said parkway could not reasonably be confined to a
width of two hundred feet, the said maximum may be
increased to such width as may be necessary, with the
written approval of the department or agency having
jurisdiction over such lands) as designated on maps
heretofore or hereafter approved by the Secretary
of the Interior, shall be known as the Blue Ridge
Parkway and shall be administered and maintained
by the Secretary of the Interior through the National
Park Service, subject to the provisions of the Act
of Congress approved August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535),
entitled “An Act to establish a National Park Service,
and for other purposes”, the provisions of which Act,
as amended and supplemented, are extended over
and made applicable to said parkway: Provided, That
the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior, to connect
with the parkway such roads and trails as may be
necessary for the protection, administration, or utilization of adjacent and nearby national forests and
the resources thereof: And provided further, That the
Forest Service and the National Park Service shall,
insofar as practicable, coordinate and correlate such
recreational development as each may plan, construct,
or permit to be constructed, on lands within their
respective jurisdictions which, by mutual agreement,
should be given special treatment for recreational
purposes.

 Add. 23
11. 16 U.S.C. § 460a-3 provides:
§ 460a-3. Licenses or permits to owners of
adjacent lands
In the administration of the Blue Ridge Parkway,
the Secretary of the Interior may issue revocable
licenses or permits for rights-of-way over, across, and
upon parkway lands, or for the use of parkway lands
by the owners or lessees of adjacent lands, for such
purposes and under such nondiscriminatory terms,
regulations, and conditions as he may determine to
be not inconsistent with the use of such lands for
parkway purposes.
12. 16 U.S.C. § 460a-6 provides:
§ 460a-6. Blue Ridge Parkway extension; acceptance of lands; public use, administration, and maintenance areas;
survey location of parkway extension
crossing national forest land; transfer
from Federal agency to administrative
jurisdiction of Secretary of the Interior; national forest uses following
transfer within national forest
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept,
on behalf of the United States, donations of land and
interests in land in the States of North Carolina and
Georgia, to construct thereon an extension of the Blue
Ridge Parkway from the vicinity of Beech Gap, North
Carolina, to the vicinity of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park north of Atlanta and Marietta,
Georgia, and to provide public use, administration,
and maintenance areas in connection therewith. The
lands accepted for the parkway extension may vary in

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width but shall average not more than one hundred
and twenty-five acres per mile in fee simple plus not
more than twenty-five acres per mile in scenic easements. The survey location and width of any portion
of the parkway extension that crosses national forest
land shall be jointly determined by the Secretary of
the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture. Where
the parkway extension designated by the Secretary of
the Interior traverses Federal lands, the head of the
department or agency having jurisdiction over such
lands is authorized to transfer to the Secretary of the
Interior the part of the Federal lands mutually agreed
upon as necessary for the construction, maintenance
and administration of the parkway extension and
public use thereof, without transfer of funds. Any
such transfer within a national forest shall not preclude any national forest use that is compatible with
parkway use and that is agreed upon by the Secretary
of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture.
13. 16 U.S.C. § 460a-8 provides:
§ 460a-8. Licenses or permits for rights-of-way
over parkway lands
The Secretary of the Interior may issue revocable
licenses or permits for rights-of-way over, across, and
upon parkway lands, or for the use of parkway lands
by the owners or lessees of adjacent lands, or for such
purposes and under such terms and conditions as he
may determine to be consistent with the use of such
lands for parkway purposes.