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Land
Exchange
To the editor:
Through the courtesy of U.S. Representative, J. Kenneth Robinson, we have just received a copy of a ten-page memorandum to the Director of the National Park Service from the Associate Solicitor, Conservation and Wildlife, of the U. S. Department of the Interior. Mr. Robinson had requested from the Solicitor’s office an opinion as to the legality of the proposed exchange of Shenandoah National Park land in Rappahannock and Warren Counties for private land in Greene County.
In the covering letter to Mr. Robinson, the statement is made that the “legal issues are rather involved.” The memorandum states: “Although the National Park Service has recently announced its decision not to consummate the exchange, an analysis of the legal issues involved is still appropriate to resolve some of the confusion surrounding this issue.”
The conclusion of the memorandum is that the exchange is legal on both the Federal and State levels.
According to the Associate Solicitor, the proposed exchange of lands does not involve a change in the Park boundary. It is viewed, rather, as an exchange of lands which are already within the Park boundaries. While Shenandoah National Park now has title to only 194,000 acres, Congress originally authorized the acquisition of 521,000 acres.
It would seem that the Park signs along the west side of Rappahannock County, labeled “US BOUNDARY, NPS,” are not to be taken at face value. According to the authorization, the "real” boundary extends to the outskirts of Washington and Sperryville, while in the north part of the County it reaches to Rt. 522 in places, and southward it follows Rt. 231 for some distance, crossing it at one point and extending considerably to the east of Rt. 231.
As for the Virginia law requiring reversion to the CuanimonwealUi a>f any lands which the United States abandons, the memorandum states that this does not apply, since the law was enacted on March 28, 1936, three months after the Park was transferred to the United States in fee simple, on December 16, 1935.
All neighbors to any national park should note that apparently the National Park Service intends to proceed with exchanges of Park land for private land. The legal interpretation seems to us to be based upon specious arguments, and to support future arbitrary acts by Park administrators in accordance with their in
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