<P> However, in December 2016, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114 - 328) authorized the Secretary of the Army to expand the cemetery by acquiring from Arlington County and the Commonwealth of Virginia by condemnation and other means properties near the cemetery that contain the Southgate Road, South Joyce Street and Washington Boulevard right - of - ways, including the Washington Boulvard - Columbia Pike interchange . The Army then informed the Arlington County government in June 2017 that the Army would no longer pursue a land exchange with the County . The Army told the County that the Army would use the entire Navy Annex site to expand the cemetery and would acquire for the cemetery about 5 acres (2.0 ha) of public land that Arlington County then owned . The Army would also acquire for the cemetery expansion about 7 acres (2.8 ha) of land located between Columbia Pike and Interstate 395 that the Commonwealth of Virginia then owned . </P> <P> On February 22, 1995, officials of the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of the Army signed an agreement to transfer from Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, to the Army a part of Arlington Woods, which was located in Section 29 of the NPS at Arlington National Cemetery between Arlington House and Fort Myer . The property transfer, which involved 12 acres (4.9 ha) of NPS land, was intended to permit Metzler to start expanding the cemetery beyond its existing boundaries . </P> <P> Environmentalists expressed concerns that the agreement would result in the partial destruction of the 24 acres (9.7 ha) remnant of an historically important stand of native trees . A historical marker near the woodland notes that, while visiting Arlington House in 1825, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette had warned Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, the wife of George Washington Parke Custis: "Cherish these forest trees around your mansion . Recollect how much easier it is to cut a tree than to make one grow ." The marker further notes that the Virginia Native Plant Society had recognized the woodland as being one of the best examples of old growth terraced gravel forest remaining in Virginia . </P> <P> On September 23, 1996, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 (Public Law 104 - 201) authorized the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Secretary of the Army all of the land in Section 29 that was within an "Arlington National Cemetery Interment Zone" and some of the land in the Section that was within a "Robert E. Lee Memorial Preservation Zone". </P>

Who owned the land that is now arlington national cemetery