---
type: "LegalText"
title: "16 U.S.C. § 1339"
description: "Limitation of authority"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 16
title_name: "CONSERVATION"
chapter_number: "30"
chapter_name: "WILD HORSES AND BURROS: PROTECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND CONTROL"
section: "1339"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 1339"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc16@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t16/s1339"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-16/usc16.xml"
source_hash: "813610a796c794f237f52c121e88a8077138d64466a5d45ac1b6f2242ff6f8e2"
raw_snapshot_hash: "7be8950da5a93cac7c98e4576ce00340f2aba5e8e46d29915382c203c421d503"
text_hash: "2f68477550429403e399a088ec12dac7a5a87a9490963cd43be2143600d84da7"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 16 U.S.C. § 1339 - Limitation of authority

## Text

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to relocate wild free-roaming horses or burros to areas of the public lands where they do not presently exist.

(Pub. L. 92–195, § 10, formerly § 9, Dec. 15, 1971, 85 Stat. 651, renumbered Pub. L. 94–579, title IV, § 404, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2775.)