An Act to establish the Point Reyes National Seashore in the State of California, and for other purposes
PL 87-657 (S.476), enacted 09/13/1962

538 
PUBLIC LAW 87-657-SEPT. 13, 1962 
[76 STAT. 
Public Law 87-657 
S.pt.mberl3.1962 
AN ACT 
^8- ^^^] 
To establish the Point Reyes National Seashore in the State of California, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
California. 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That in order to 
tion^^^as^oT^.^' ^^^® *^^ preserve, for purposes of public recreation, benefit, and 
Establishment, 
inspiration, a portion of the diminishing seashore of the United States 
that remains undeveloped, the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter 
referred to as the "Secretary") is hereby authorized to take appro-
priate action in the public interest toward the establishment of the 
national seashore set forth in section 2 of this Act. 
SEC. 2. (a) The area comprising that portion of the land and waters 
located on Point Eeyes Peninsula, Marin County, California, which 
shall be known as the Point Reyes National Seashore, is described 
as follows by reference to that certain boundary map, designated N S -
PR-7001, dated June 1,1960, oh file with the Director, National Park 
Service, Washington, District of Columbia. 
Beginning at a point, not monumented, where the boundary line 
common to Rancho Punta de los Reyes (Sobi:ante) and'Rancho Las 
Baulines meets the average high tide line of the Pacific Ocean as shown 
on said boundary map; 
Thence southwesterly from said point 1,320 feet offshore on a pro-
longation of said boundary line common to Rancho Punta de los Reyes 
(Sobrante) and Rancho Las Baulines; 
Thence in a northerly and westerly direction parallelingthe average 
high tide line of the shore of the Pacific Ocean; along Drakes Bay, 
and around Point Reyes; 
Thence generally northerly and around Tomales Point, offshore a 
distance of 1,320 feet from average high tide line; 
Thence southeasterly along a line 1,320 feet offshore and parallel to 
the average high tide line along the west shore of Bodega Bay and 
Tomales Bay to the intersection of this line with a prolongation of the 
most northerly tangent of theboundary of Tomales Bay State Park; 
Thence south 54 degrees 32 minutes west 1,320 feet along the pro-
longation of said tangent of Tomales Bay State Park boundary to the 
average high tide line on the shore of Tomales Bay; 
Thence following the boundary of Tomales Bay State Park in a 
southerly direction to a point lying 105.4 feet- north 41 degrees east 
of an unimproved road heading westerly and northerly from Pierce 
Point Road; 
Thence south 41 degrees west 105.4 feet to a point on the north 
right-of-way of said unimproved road; 
Thence southeasterly along the north right-of-way of said unim-
proved road and Pierce Point Road to a point at the southwest corner 
of Tomales Bay State Park at the junction of the Pierce Point Road 
and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard; 
Thence due south to a point on the south right-of-way of said Sir 
Francis Drake Boulevard; 
Thence southeasterly along said south right-of-way approximately 
3,100 feet to a point; 
Thence approximately south 19 degrees west approximately 300 
feet: 
Thence south approximately 400 feet; 
Thence southwest to the most northerly corner of the Inverness 
watershed area; 
Thence southerly and easterly along the west property line of the 
Inverness watershed area approximately 9,040 feet to a point near the 
76 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-657-SEPT. 13, 1962 
539 
intersection* of this property line with an unimproved road as shown 
on said boundary map; 
Thence southerly along existing property lines that roughly follow 
said unimproved road to its intersection with Drakes Summit Road 
and to a point on the north right-of-way of Drakes Summit Road; 
Thence easterly approximately 1^00 feet along the north right-of-
way of said Drakes Summit Road to a point which is a property line 
corner at the intersection with an unimproved road to the south; 
Thence southerly and easterly and then northerly, as shown approxi-
mately on said boundary map, along existing property lines to a point 
on the south right-of-way of the Bear Valley Road, approximately 
1,500 feet southeast of its intersection with Sir Francis Drake 
Boulevard; 
Thence easterly and southerly along said south right-of-way of Bear 
Valley Road to a point on a property line approximately 1,000 feet 
west of the intersection of Bear Valley Road and Sir Francis Drake 
Boulevard in the village of Olema; 
Thence south approximately 1,700 feet to the northwest corner of 
property now owned by Helen U. and Mary S. Shafter; 
Thence southwest and southeast along the west boundary of said 
Shafter property to the southwest corner of said Shafter property; 
Thence approximately south 30 degrees east on a course ap-
proximately 1,700 feet to a point; 
Thence approximately south 10 degrees east on a course to the 
centerline of Olema Creek; 
Thence generally southeasterly up the centerline of Olema Creek to 
a point on the west right-of-way line of State Route Numbered 1; 
Thence southeasterly along westerly right-of-way line to State 
Highway Numbered 1 to a point where a prolongation of the boundary 
line common to Rancho Punta de los Reyes (Sobrante) and Rancho 
Las Baulines would intersect right-of-way line of State Highway 
Numbered 1; 
Thence southwesterly to and along said south boundary line of 
Rancho Punta de los Reyes (Sobrante) approximately 2,900 feet to 
a property corner; 
Thence approximately south 38 degrees east approximately 1,500 
feet to the centerline of Pine Gulch Creek; 
Thence down the centerline of Pine Gulch Creek approximately 
400 feet to the intersection with a side creek flowing from the west; 
Thence up said side creek to its intersection with said south bound-
ary line of Rancho Punta de los Reyes (Sobrante); 
Thence southwest along said south boundary line of Rancho Punta 
de los Reyes to the point of beginning, containing approximately 53,-
000 acres. Notwithstanding the foregoing description^ the Secretary 
is authorized to include within the Point Reyes National Seashore 
the entire tract of land owned by the Vedanta Society of Northern 
California west of the centerline of Olema Creek, in order to avoid 
a severance of said tract. 
(b) The area referred to in subsection (a) shall include also a right-
of-way, to be selected by the Secretary, of not more than 400 feet in 
width to the aforesaid tract from the intersection of Sir Francis Drake 
Boulevard and Haggerty Gulch. 
SEC. 3. (a) Except as provided in section 4, the Secretai-y is author-
ized to acquire, and it is the intent of Congress that he shall acquire as 
rapidly as appropriated funds become available for this purpose or as 
such acquisition can be accomplished by donation or with donated 
funds or by transfer, exchange, or otherwise the lands, waters, and 
other property, and improvements thereon and any interest therein, 
within the areas described in section 2 of this Act or which lie within 
540 
PUBLIC LAW 87-657-SEPT. 13, 1962 
[76 STAT. 
*' R anching and 
dairying pur-
poses." 
Publication in 
F. R. 
Notification of 
Governor, etc. 
the boundaries of the seashore as established under section 5 of this 
Act (hereinafter referred to as "such area"). 
Any property, or 
interest therein, owned by a State or political subdivision thereof may 
be acquired only with the concurrence of such owner. 
Notwithstand-
ing any other provision of law, any Federal property located within 
such area may, with the concurrence of the agency having custody 
thereof, be transferred without consideration to the administrative 
jurisdiction of the Secretary for use by him in carrying out the pro-
visions of this Act. 
In exercising his authority to acquire property 
in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, the Secretary may 
enter into contracts requiring the expenditure, when appropriated, of 
funds authorized by section 8 of this Act, but the liability of the 
United States under any such contract shall be contingent on the 
appropriation of funds sufficient to fulfill the obligations thereby 
incurred. 
(b) The Secretary is authorized to pay for any acquisitions which 
lie makes by purchase under this Act their fair market value, as deter-
mined by the Secretary, who may in his discretion base his determina-
tion on an independent appraisal obtained by him. 
(c) In exercising his authority to acquire property by exchange, the 
Secretary may accept title to any non-Federal property located within 
such area and convey to the grantor of such property any federally 
owned property under the jurisdiction of the Secretary within Cali-
fornia and adjacent States, notwithstanding any other provision of 
law. 
The properties so exchanged shall be approximately equal in fair 
market value, provided that the Secretary may accept cash from or 
pay cash to the grantor in such an exchange in order to equalize the 
values of the properties exchanged. 
SEC. 4. No parcel of more than five hundred acres within the zone 
of approximately twenty-six thousand acres depicted on map num-
bered NS-PR-7002, dated August 15, 1961, on hie with the director. 
National Park Service, Washington, District of Columbia, exclusive 
of that land required to provide access for purposes of the national 
seashore, shall be acquired without the consent of the owner so long 
as it remains in its natural state, or is used exclusively for ranching 
and dairying purposes including housing directly incident thereto. 
The term "ranching and dairying purposes", as used herein, means 
such ranching and dairying, primarily for the production of food, 
as is presently practiced in the area. 
In acquiring access roads within the pastoral zone, the Secretary 
shall give due consideration to existing ranching and dairying uses and 
shall not unnecessarily interfere with or damage such use. 
SEC. 5. (a) As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of 
this Act and following the acquisition by the Secretary of an acreage 
in the area described in section 2 of this Act, that is in the opinion of 
the Secretary efficiently administrable to carry out the purposes of this 
Act, the Secretary shall establish Point Reyes National Seashore by 
the publication of notice thereof in the Federal Register. 
(b) Such notice referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall 
contain a detailed description of the boundaries of the seashore which 
shall encompass an area as nearly as practicable identical to the area 
described in section 2 of this Act. 
The Secretary shall forthwith 
after the date of publication of such notice in the Federal Register (1) 
send a copy of such notice, together with a map showing such bound-
aries, by registered or certified mail to the Governor of the State and 
to the governing body of each of the political subdivisions involved; 
(2) cause a copy of such notice and map to be published in one or more 
newspapers which circulate in each of the localities; and (3) cause a 
certified copy of such notice, a copy of such map, and a copy of this Act 
to be recorded at the registry of deeds for the county involved. 
76 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 87-658-SEPT. 14, 1962 
541 
SEC. 6. (a) Any owner or owners (hereinafter in this subsection 
referred to as "owner") of improved property on the date of its acqui-
sition by the Secretary may, as a condition to such acquisition, retain 
the right of use and occupancy of the improved property for noncom-
mercial residential purposes for a term of fifty years. The Secretary 
shall pay to the owner the fair market value of the property on the 
date of such acquisition less the fair market value on such date of the 
right retained by the owner. 
(b) As used in this Act, the term "improved property" shall mean 
a private noncommercial dwelling, including the land on which it is 
situated, whose construction w^as begun before September 1, 1959, and 
structures accessory thereto (hereinafter in this subsection referred to 
as "dwelling"), together with such amount and locus of the property 
adjoining and in the same ownership as such dwelling as the Secretary 
designates to be reasonably necessary for the enjoyment of such dwell-
ing for the. sole purpose of noncommercial residential use and oc-
cupancy. 
In making such designation the Secretary shall take into 
account the manner of noncommercial residential use and occupancy 
in which the dwelling and such adjoining property has usually been 
enjoyed by its owner or occupant. 
SEC. 7. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the property 
acquired by the Secretary under this Act shall be administered by the 
Secretary, subject to the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to 
establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes", approved 
August 25,1916 (39 Stat. 535), as amended and supplemented, and in 
accordance with other laws of general application relating to the 
national park system as defined by the Act of August 8, 1953 (67 
Stat, 496), except that authority otherwise available to the Secretary 
for the conservation and management of natural resources may be 
utilized to the extent he finds such authority will further the purposes 
of this Act. 
(b) The Secretary may permit hunting and fishing on lands and 
waters under his jurisdiction within the se'^shore in such areas and 
under such regulations as he may prescribe during open seasons pre-
scribed by applicable local. State, and Federal law. 
The Secretary 
shall consult with officials of the State of California and any political 
subdivision thereof who have jurisdiction of hunting and fishing prior 
to the issuance of any such regulations, and the Secretary is authorized 
to enter into cooperative agreements with such officials regarding such 
hunting and fishing as he may deem desirable. 
SEC. 8. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may 
be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act, except that no more 
than $14,000,000 shall be appropriated for the acquisition of land and 
waters and improvements thereon, and interests therein, and inci-
dental costs relating thereto, in accordance with the provisions of this 
Act. 
Approved September 13, 1962. 
' 'Imp roved prop-
erty." 
16 use 1. 
16 use Ic. 
Appropriation. 
Public Law 87-658 
AN ACT 
September 14,1962 
To provide authority to accelerate public worlis programs by the Federal 
[s. 2965] 
Government and State and local bodies. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may 
Puwic works 
be cited as the "Public Works Acceleration Act". 
Acceleration Act.