In order to protect and interpret to the public area within the Ouachita National Forest which contain unique plant species and unique plant communities that are significant in their occurrence, variety and location, the following lands are hereby designated as botanical areas:

(1) Certain lands in the Ouachita National Forest, Oklahoma, which comprise approximately eight thousand and twenty-six acres as generally depicted on a map entitled “Robert S. Kerr Memorial Arboretum, Nature Center and Botanical Area—Proposed”, dated March 1988, which shall be known as the “Robert S. Kerr Memorial Arboretum, Nature Center and Botanical Area”.

(2) Certain lands in the Ouachita National Forest, Oklahoma, which comprise approximately four hundred acres as generally depicted on a map entitled “Beech Creek Botanical Area—Proposed”, dated March 1988, which shall be known as the “Beech Creek Botanical Area”.

The Secretary of Agriculture shall, as soon as practicable after October 18, 1988, file a map and a legal description of the botanical areas with the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture of the United States House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the United States Senate. Each such map and legal description shall have the same force and effect as if included in this subchapter; except that correction of clerical and typographical errors in such legal description and map may be made. The map and legal description shall be on file and available for public inspection in the Office of the Chief of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

The Secretary shall administer the botanical areas in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations applicable to the national forests in such manner as will best further the purposes of this section, as set forth in subsection (a). Except as provided in section 460vv–14 of this title, vegetative manipulation, including the cutting of trees, shall be permitted in such areas only when necessary for the protection and interpretation of the unique plant species and unique plant communities within the area. The Secretary may permit expansion of roads, improvements, and other facilities in the vicinity of the Robert S. Kerr Nature Center.

(Pub. L. 100–499, § 9, Oct. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 2495.)