In order to preserve and interpret the historic and scenic features of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and to develop the potential of the canal for public recreation, including such restoration as may be needed, there is hereby established the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, in the States of Maryland and West Virginia and in the District of Columbia. The park as initially established shall comprise those particular properties in Federal ownership, containing approximately five thousand two hundred and fifty acres, including those properties along the line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the State of Maryland and appurtenances in the State of West Virginia designated as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Monument, and those properties along the line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal between Rock Creek in the District of Columbia and the terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Monument near the mouth of Seneca Creek in the State of Maryland. The boundaries of the park shall be as generally depicted on the drawing entitled “Boundary Map, Proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park,” in five sheets, numbered CHOH 91,000, and dated October 1969, which is on file and available for public inspection in the offices of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior: Provided, That no lands owned by any State shall be included in the boundaries of the park—

(1) unless they are donated to the United States, or

(2) until a written cooperative agreement is negotiated by the Secretary which assures the administration of such lands in accordance with established administrative policies for national parks, and

(3) until the terms and conditions of such donation or cooperative agreement have been forwarded to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives at least sixty days prior to being executed.

Within the boundaries of the park, the Secretary is authorized to acquire lands and interests therein by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange, but he shall refrain from acquiring, for two years from January 8, 1971, any lands designated on the boundary map for acquisition by any State if he has negotiated and consummated a written cooperative agreement with such State pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(Pub. L. 91–664, § 3, Jan. 8, 1971, 84 Stat. 1978; Pub. L. 103–437, § 6(g), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4585.)