Title 9

(a) It shall be a Class C felony for any person to do either of the following: (1) Willfully, maliciously, or intentionally burn, set fire to, attempt to set fire to, or cause to be burned or any fire to be set to any forest, grass, woodlands, or other inflammable vegetation on a…

(a) For the purposes of this section, the term “prescribed burning” shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 9-13-272. (b) No person shall conduct any prescribed burning without first obtaining a burn permit from the State Forestry Commission. Burn permits shall be issue…

Any fire burning uncontrolled on any forested, cutover, brushland, or grassland area is a public nuisance by reason of its menace to life and property. Any person responsible either for the starting or the existence of a fire shall make a reasonable effort to control or extinguis…

Promptly after receipt by the state of any moneys from the United States accruing from receipts from national forests within the state, the Governor shall cause said moneys to be distributed among the several counties of the state proportional to the area of national forests loca…

The district attorneys of the several counties shall prosecute all violators of the provisions of this chapter. (Acts 1923, No. 486, p. 638; Code 1923, §4117; Code 1940, T. 8, §210.)

The district courts of this state shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all cases and prosecutions originating under the provisions of this chapter and shall impose and collect fines not exceeding the amount of $100.00, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. (Acts …

(a) The commission shall give advice, assistance, and cooperation as may be practicable to private landowners and promote, so far as it may be able, a proper appreciation in this state among all classes of the population of the benefits to be derived from forest culture, preserva…

There shall be a fund known as the Alabama Forestry Commission Fund. This fund shall consist of all occupational licenses and privilege taxes imposed by the state for engaging in any business dealing with timber or timber products and all fines and forfeitures arising under the p…

It is the declared policy of the state to encourage reforestation of cutover lands and timber culture generally; and to that end and in consideration of the public benefits arising therefrom, the timber growing on lands which shall hereafter be designated by the State Forestry Co…

Any owner of lands desiring to devote the same to forest culture and to have the same designated as auxiliary state forests shall file with the State Forestry Commission an application in writing, which shall be signed by such owner, describing the lands which said owner desires …

The State Forestry Commission may, in its discretion, require the applicant to furnish an abstract of title of said lands showing him to be the owner in fee thereof or other satisfactory proof of title, and all rights of dower or homestead in said lands, as against the operation …

Upon the filing of such application, the State Forestry Commission shall, as soon as practicable, inspect the said land or cause the same to be inspected by the State Forester or some other competent and suitable person; and, if the State Forestry Commission shall find said lands…

The Governor may, at his discretion, upon designation of any lands as auxiliary state forests, under the provisions of this article, on behalf of and in the name of the State of Alabama, enter into a contract by and with the owner of said land and the successors and assigns of sa…

If any owner or the successor in title of any such owner shall violate the provisions of his contract, the Governor may, in his discretion, abrogate the same by a written order to be filed with the Department of Revenue, the State Forestry Commission and the said owner or his suc…

(a) Any owner of land designated as auxiliary state forests may, after the lapse of five years from the designation of the said lands as such, file with the State Forestry Commission an application in writing to withdraw the same or any part thereof, and thereupon the value of th…

Upon withdrawal of said lands or any part thereof as auxiliary state forests or harvesting or other use of parts of timber on said land without withdrawing the land, the value of the timber thereon shall be appraised separately in each county where such timber is located by the D…

The state shall have a lien upon the timber on land designated as auxiliary state forests for the payment of the privilege tax provided for in this article, and no other privilege or other tax, except that provided for in this section, shall be collected by or for the state or an…

Said privilege tax shall be paid to the State Forestry Commission and by it reported to the Comptroller and paid into the Treasury, whereupon the Comptroller shall draw and transmit to the tax collector of each county wherein such timber has been appraised and with respect to whi…

The State Forestry Commission shall keep a book in which shall be recorded all applications for the designation of lands as auxiliary state forests, contracts entered into upon such applications and withdrawals or forfeitures thereof. (Acts 1923, No. 486, p. 638, §11; Code 1923, …

(a) It is unlawful for any person or persons to do any of the following: (1) Willfully and knowingly cut, kill, destroy, girdle, chop, chip, saw or otherwise damage timber or forest products not his own or without authority of the legal owner. (2) Willfully and knowingly remove t…

In any affidavit, information or indictment under this article, the person or persons accused may be charged with commencing or conspiring to commence at some particular time to commit any of the acts hereby made punishable and of continuing to commit the same at divers times and…

Any person or entity who damages, destroys, cuts, or removes timber or other forest products not owned by that person or without the authority of the legal owner, and any person or entity who shall supervise any other person in so doing, regardless of whether the act was done kno…

Any person, firm, or corporation buying, contracting to buy, or otherwise acquiring logs, poles, piling, crossties, pulpwood, veneer bolts, stave bolts, or other unmanufactured or semimanufactured forest products shall keep a written record in this state of every such purchase. T…

All fines collected from violations of Sections 9-13-60 and 9-13-63 shall go to the Alabama Forestry Commission Fund. (Acts 1939, No. 626, p. 993, §6; Code 1940, T. 8, §218(6).)

If the department finds that a person liable for taxes under any provisions of this article designs quickly to depart from the state or to remove his property therefrom, or to conceal himself or his property therein or to do any other act tending to prejudice or to render wholly …

When requested by the department, all transporters of forest products out of, within or across the State of Alabama shall be required to furnish the department, under oath and upon forms prescribed by the department, any and all information relative to the transportation of fores…

The failure of any person to make the transporter’s report provided for in Section 9-13-104 shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50.00 and not more than $500.00 for each offense. (Acts 1945, No. 169, p. 285, §26.)

When the governing body of any county or municipality in the state shall purchase any forest products upon which the privilege taxes imposed by this article have not been paid, then the said governing body of said county or municipality shall withhold from the purchase price the …

The taxes imposed by this article shall apply to any forest products severed from land owned by either the State of Alabama or the United States of America, where the forest products severed enter commercial channels of trade for competitive markets. (Acts 1945, No. 185, p. 285, …

Any and all taxes upon the excise or privilege of severing or manufacturing of forest products shall inure to the State of Alabama and shall be exercised only in a uniform, statewide tax. No tax shall be levied by local law or by any political subdivision of the state, including …

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the intent of Act 2017-301 is to simplify and clarify existing language used to calculate and collect forest product severance taxes and forest product manufacturing taxes and to ensure that these taxes are levied and paid only once. In…

It is the intent of the Legislature that the forest products severance tax prescribed in subsections (a) and (b) of Section 9-13-82, beginning July 1, 2017, shall initially generate revenues not less than the revenues generated by the tax prior to July 1, 2017. In order to ensure…

The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning: (1) COMMISSIONER. The Commissioner of Revenue of the State of Alabama. (2) CONCENTRATION Y…

To provide further for conservation of the natural resources of the state by protection of the state’s forests and development of the forestry program, there is levied and shall be collected as provided in this article a privilege tax on every person who owns timber prior to seve…

(a) The measure of the forest products severance tax is at the following rates: (1) On pine logs severed in Alabama and delivered to a manufacturer, processor, or concentration yard in Alabama, the rate shall be $0.10 per ton (2,000 pounds). On pine logs severed in Alabama for tr…

The taxes levied by this article shall not apply to nor shall such taxes be required of those individual owners of timber who occasionally sever or cut the same from their own premises to be utilized by them in the construction or repair of their own structures, buildings or impr…

(a) The taxes imposed by this article, and any other taxes imposed on the severance of forest products, shall be due and payable quarterly to the department and, when collected, shall be paid by the department into the State Treasury. When so paid into the State Treasury, all suc…

Every manufacturer and processor, within 30 days after the expiration of each quarter annual period expiring, respectively, shall on the last day of March, June, September, and December of each year, file with the department a statement under oath, on forms prescribed by the depa…

Every producer of forest products who shall ship the same out of the State of Alabama in an unmanufactured condition or who shall sell such product for shipment outside the State of Alabama in an unmanufactured condition shall, within 30 days after the expiration of each quarter …

It shall be the duty of every manufacturer and processor in this state and of every producer who shall ship forest products out of the State of Alabama in an unmanufactured condition and of every concentration yard where any logs, pulpwood, or inwoods pulpwood chips are sold or d…

Any person subject to the provisions of this article who shall fail to make the reports or any of them as required by this article or who shall fail to keep the records as required by this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than…

The taxes provided in this article shall become delinquent after the date fixed for the filing of the quarter annual report to be filed with the department. (Acts 1945, No. 169, p. 285, §28; Act 2017-301, §1.)

The taxes together with interest and penalties imposed by this article shall be a lien upon the property of any person subject to the provisions of this article, and the provisions of the revenue laws of the State of Alabama applying to liens for license taxes shall apply fully t…

As used in this article, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1) PERSON. An individual, partnership, corporation, company, society or association. (2) FOREST TREES. Only those trees which…

Where an insect infestation or disease infection is believed to exist on forestland within the state, the State Forester shall cause an investigation to be made. Whenever, upon investigation, he finds that an infestation or infection exists, he shall give notice in writing, by ma…

Whenever the State Forester determines that there exists an infestation or infection injurious to timber of forest growth on privately owned lands and that said infestation or infection is of such a nature as to be a menace to the timber on forestlands of adjacent owners, the Sta…