Federal · Title 16 — Conservation

16 U.S.C. § 425g: Protection of monuments, etc.

Infraction

What this law says, in plain English

Federal law prohibits damaging monuments, structures, trees, and defenses in national parks without Interior Secretary permission. Conviction results in a fine of $5–$50, split between the park and the informer.

Read the full statutory text
If any person shall, except by permission of the Secretary of the Interior, destroy, mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any monument, column, statue, memorial structure, or work of art that shall be erected or placed upon the grounds of the park by lawful authority, or shall destroy or remove any fence, railing, inclosure, or other work for the protection or ornament of said park, or any portion thereof, or shall destroy, cut, hack, bark, break down, or otherwise injure any tree, bush, or shrubbery that may be growing upon said park, or shall cut down or fell or remove any timber, battle relic, tree or trees growing or being upon said park, or hunt within the limits of the park, or shall remove or destroy any breastworks, earthworks, walls, or other defenses or shelter or any part thereof constructed by the armies formerly engaged in the battles on the lands or approaches to the park, any person so offending and found guilty thereof before any justice of the peace of the county in which the offense may be committed, or any court of competent jurisdiction, shall for each and every such offense forfeit and pay a fine, in the discretion of the justice, according to the aggravation of the offense, of not less than $5 nor more than $50, one-half for the use of the park and the other half to the informer, to be enforced and recovered before such justice in like manner as debts of like nature were, on February 14, 1927 , by law recoverable in the several counties where the offense may be committed.

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.