PREFACE This handbook was prepared by the Division of Legislative Reporting and Liaison of the Forest Service in cooperation with the Division of Forestry and Soil Conservation of the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture. The handbook is divided into two major sections. The first section contains laws, or appropriate parts of laws, arranged on the basis of functional subject matter. The principal legislation existing on December 31, 1962, on each of seven major subject matters is included. This section is primarily for quick reference to statutory authorizations and limitations for the broad functional activities of the Forest Service. The parts of some of the laws included in this section are duplicated in the second section where the complete Act is presented. The second section contains the complete wording as of December 31, 1962, of 29 principal laws relating to Forest Service activities. In general, each law follows the wording of the statute or else the codified wording, and, except for a few statutory provisions of general application to the Department of Agriculture and to other Federal agencies, there are included only laws which pertain chiefly to functions of the Forest Service. Where deemed necessary, explanatory notes or cross references have been added. Preceding each provision of law under the functional organization and each major act there are cited the volumes and pages of the United States Statutes at Large and the titles and sections of the United States Code. Not included in the compilation are minor acts and the numerous acts pertaining to particular national forests. III White Pine Blister Rust Protection Act__ Sustained-Yield Forest Management Act. Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944. FUNCTIONAL PROVISIONS ESTABLISHMENT, CONSOLIDATION, AND PURPOSE Creation by Executive action Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1103; 16 U.S.C. 471) (Creative Act) That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof. Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 34, 36; 16 U.S.C.473) *** The President of the United States is hereby authorized and empowered to revoke, modify, or suspend any and all such Executive orders and proclamations, or any part thereof, from time to time as he shall deem best for the public interest. *** The President is hereby authorized at any time to modify any Executive order that has been or may hereafter be made establishing any forest reserve, and by such modification may reduce the area or change the boundary lines of such reserve, or may vacate altogether any order creating such reserve. Act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 655; 16 U.S.C. 471(b), and 505) The President, in his discretion, is hereby authorized to establish as national forests, or parts thereof, any lands within the boundaries of Government reservations, other than national parks, reservations for phosphate and other mineral deposits or water-power purposes, national monuments, and Indian reservations, which in the opinion of the Secretary of the department now administering the area and the Secretary of Agriculture are suitable for the production of timber, to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture under such rules and regulations and in accordance with such general plans as may be jointly approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary formerly administering the area, for the use and occupation of such lands and for the sale of products therefrom. That where such national forest is established on land previously reserved for the Army or Navy for purposes of national defense the land shall remain subject to the unhampered use of the Department of the Army or Navy Department for said purposes, and nothing in this section shall be construed to relinquish the authority over such lands for purposes of national defense now vested in the Department for which the lands were formerly reserved. 1 Restriction on additions to national forests by Executive action Act of March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. 1271); August 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 497); June 15, 1926 (44 Stat. 745) ; 16 U.S.C. 471, 471a Hereafter no national forest shall be created, nor shall any additions be made to one heretofore created within the limits of the States of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, or New Mexico, except by Act of Congress. Additions to national forest lands in Montana by Executive action Act of July 20, 1939 (53 Stat. 1071; 16 U.S.C. 471–b) The President of the United States is authorized, in his discretion, to add to existing national forests, or to include within new national forests, by proclamation or Executive order, any unappropriated public lands of the United States situated in the State of Montana which, in his opinion, are chiefly valuable for the production of timber or the protection of watersheds: Provided, That the inclusion of such lands within a national forest shall be subject to any claim, entry, or appropriation under the public land laws then valid and subsisting and thereafter legally maintained. Purpose of national forests Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 35; 16 U.S.C. 475) (Organic Act) No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States. Forest reserves designated national forests Act of March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. 1269) The forest reserves shall be known hereafter as national forests. Act of June 12, 1960 (74 Stat. 215; 16 U.S.C. 528) (Multiple UseSustained Yield Act) It is the policy of the Congress that the national forests are established and shall be administered for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes. The purposes of this Act are declared to be supplemental to, but not in derogation of, the purposes for which the national forests were established as set forth in the Act of June 4, 1897 (16 U.S.C. 475). Nothing herein shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with respect to wildlife and fish on the national forests. Nothing herein shall be construed so as to affect the use or administration of the mineral resources of national forest lands or to affect the use or administration of Federal lands not within national forests. Land acquisition by purchase Act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), as amended by the Acts of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 654); 16 U.S.C. 515, 516, 517, 521; also Act of March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1516), as to Puerto Rico. (Weeks Law and related statutes) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to examine, locate, and recommend for purchase such forested, cut-over or denuded lands within the watersheds of navigable streams as in his judgment may be necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams or for the production of timber and to report to the National Forest Reservation Commission the results of such examination; but before any lands are purchased by the commission said lands shall be examined by the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Director of the Geological Survey, and a report made by them to the commission showing that the control of such lands by the Federal Government will promote or protect the navigation of streams or by the Secretary of Agriculture showing that such control will promote the production of timber thereon. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to purchase in the name of the United States, such lands as have been approved for purchase by the National Forest Reservation Commission at the price or prices fixed by said commission: Provided, That no deed or other instrument of conveyance shall be accepted or approved by the Secretary of Agriculture under this Act until the legislature of the State in which the land lies shall have consented to the acquisition of such land by the United States for the purpose of preserving the navigability of navigable streams. The Secretary of Agriculture may do all things necessary to secure the safe title in the United States to the lands to be acquired under this Act, but no payment shall be made for any such lands until the title shall be satisfactory to the Attorney General and shall be vested in the United States. Subject to the provisions of the last preceding section, (i.e. sec. 10) the lands acquired under this Act shall be permanently reserved, held, and administered as national forest lands under the provisions of section twenty-four of the Act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one (26 Stat. 1103), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof. And the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time divide the lands acquired under this Act into such specific national forests and so designate the same as he may deem best for administrative purposes. NOTE. Title to lands or interest in lands upon which public money will be expended must be approved by the Attorney General. (R.S. 355 as amended, 40 U.S.C. 255). Act of March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1133), as amended by the Acts of April 24, 1950 (64 Stat. 86); June 20, 1958 (72 Stat. 218); 16 U.S.C. 555 Where no suitable Government land is available for national forest headquarters, ranger stations, dwellings, or for other sites re |