Title 15 — Natural Resources and Economic Development

(a) Any person who desires to cut and remove any timber from any land in this state, unless the land has been surveyed and the boundaries thereof ascertained and known, before cutting and removing the timber, the person shall:(1) Cause the land to be surveyed and the metes and bo…

The county surveyors of each county of the State of Arkansas shall be ex officio timber inspectors for their respective counties and shall discharge the duties and receive the fees herein provided.

The county surveyors, as ex officio timber inspectors of their respective counties as provided in § 15-32-201, before entering upon the duties of office, shall take and subscribe the following oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States an…

The county surveyor shall also execute a bond to the State of Arkansas in the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) with two (2) or more securities to be approved as provided in Acts 1875, No. 82, § 1 [superseded], conditioned that he or she will faithfully perform his or her dut…

The oath of office and bond as county timber inspector shall be filed in the county recorder's office. Any person feeling himself or herself aggrieved may commence an action in his or her own name on the bond in like manner as actions may be brought on other official bonds.

(a) The county timber inspector is prohibited from purchasing any of the public lands, directly or indirectly, either in his or her own name or in the name of any other person in trust for him or her. (b) For every tract or parcel of land purchased in violation of this section, t…

(a) The county timber inspectors may appoint one (1) or more deputies for their respective counties for whose conduct and fidelity in the discharge of their duties as such the county timber inspector making the appointment shall be responsible upon his or her official bond. (b) T…

(a) (1) The county timber inspectors shall make quarterly reports to the Auditor of State of their action as such of:(A) All moneys collected by them;(B) All suits pending; and(C) Other matters that may be of interest to the state.(2) The Auditor of State shall charge county timb…

The county timber inspectors shall prescribe by written rules and regulations the duties of their deputies not inconsistent with this subchapter.

(a) Any person who shall knowingly cut down, destroy, or carry away any tree, timber, lumber, staves, or shingles made therefrom, contrary to this subchapter, any person who shall aid and abet or assist any other person in so doing, and any person who shall purchase or receive an…

In case the tree or timber shall be so unlawfully cut from state lands, then no bond shall be required on the part of the state, but the attachment shall issue upon the filing of an affidavit of the county timber inspector, deputy, or other person authorized by the county timber …

(1) In case a county timber inspector finds anywhere in his or her county any logs, timber, lumber, staves, shingles, shingle bolts, stocks, headings, wood, bark, stone, mineral, or other material unlawfully cut, dug, removed, or taken from any state lands, he or she shall:(1) Se…

(a) The complaint required by § 15-32-303 shall be sworn to by the county timber inspector or any credible witness. (b) (1) On the filing of the complaint, the clerk of the court shall issue a summons against the persons so named in the complaint as defendants commanding them to …

(a) If a person is not found in possession of the logs, timber, lumber, staves, shingles, shingle bolts, stocks, headings, wood, bark, stone, mineral, or other material described in the complaint required under § 15-32-303 and a person does not claim the logs, timber, lumber, sta…

If judgment is rendered for the state in any action, the county timber inspector shall sell the logs, timber, lumber, staves, shingles, shingle bolts, stocks, headings, wood, bark, stone, mineral, or other material at public sale but may sell the materials at private sale upon or…

(a) It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney of the circuit in which any suit on behalf of the state instituted by the county timber inspector or by his or her authority under the provisions of this subchapter may be pending to prosecute the suit on the part of the state.…

(1) The proceeds of all sales from seizure and fines under this subchapter shall be paid as follows:(1) When a county timber inspector or his or her deputy makes the seizure upon his or her own information:(A) Forty percent (40%) of the proceeds shall be paid to the county timber…

All county sheriffs and township officers shall immediately communicate to the prosecuting attorney and county timber inspector any information received by them respecting the commission of any trespass or waste on any public lands.

In any criminal or civil action growing out of a trespass upon any public lands, the certificate of the Secretary of State under the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas that any specified piece or tract of land belongs to the state or is mortgaged to the state or that the state h…

(a) All moneys received from the sale of logs, timber, lumber, shingles, minerals, or other articles from public lands that were seized under this subchapter and all moneys recovered in legal proceedings under this subchapter for damages done to public lands, after paying the cou…

(a) (1) A county timber inspector, in person or by deputy county timber inspector, at the request of any owner of logs, timber, or lumber, after a scalement or measurement thereof, shall make a bill, stating therein:(A) The number of logs;(B) The number of feet, by board measure,…

(a) In surveying or measuring logs, the county timber inspectors and their deputy county timber inspectors shall make such allowance for hollow, rotten, or crooked logs as would make them equal to good, sound, straight, and merchantable logs. (b) All logs that are straight and so…

The county timber inspector shall require of each of his or her deputy county timber inspectors, at the end of each month, a correct account of all of the logs, timber, or lumber measured by him or her during the month next preceding, and he or she shall immediately enter the acc…

The county timber inspectors shall report to the General Assembly every two (2) years, within ten (10) days after the meeting thereof, the amount of logs, timber, and lumber scaled or measured by them for the two (2) years previous to the date of their report.

Any owner of logs or timber in this state may use thereon any mark not before recorded and used by any other person, but he or she shall leave the mark with the county timber inspector or his or her deputy county timber inspector. The mark shall be recorded in the office of count…

(a) No person shall:(1) Use any mark on any logs or timber until the mark has been recorded by him or her as required by § 15-32-405;(2) Use any mark previously recorded and used by another; or(3) Mark any prize log. (1) Use any mark on any logs or timber until the mark has been …

(a) All mortgages, liens, bills of sales, or other written instruments in any way affecting the ownership of any marked logs, which shall specify the marks placed upon the logs and when they were cut, shall be recorded in the office of the county timber inspector. (b) No conveyan…

(a) (1) All prize logs shall be divided between the owners in each district in proportion to the number of logs owned by each person or company, respectively, in the district.(2) “Prize logs” means logs bearing no marks and all logs bearing marks not recorded or claimed within on…

(a) Every person rafting logs on any of the rivers of this state shall have the marks thereon on the upper side of every log when rafted, open to view and inspection to all persons interested. (b) Every person violating this section shall forfeit one dollar ($1.00) for each log, …

(1) County timber inspectors shall be entitled to receive the following fees for services:(1) (A) (i) Five cents (5¢) per thousand feet (1000′) for scaling or measuring and making out survey bills for all logs they are called upon to scale or measure;(ii) Twelve cents (12¢) per t…

(a) All wages for piecework when applied to the severance of timber on a cordage basis when the piecework is paid for on the basis of measures of volume or weight shall be computed upon the basis of the measures of volume or weight as the measures of volume or weight are now or m…

(a) Any person who purchases products as provided in § 15-32-411(a) at a price based on the volume or weight of the products shall pay for the products upon the basis of measures as the measures are now or may hereafter be defined by the statutes of this state. (b) Any person who…

In all actions to enforce the payments provided in this subchapter, the plaintiff, if successful, shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees in addition to the payments provided in this subchapter.

(a) A co-owner or coheir of land may execute an act of timber sale whereby he or she sells his or her undivided interest in the timber, and any condition imposing a time period within which to remove the timber shall commence from the date of its execution. (b) (1) A buyer may pu…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Owner” means any person, partnership, corporation, unincorporated association, or other legal entity having any interest in any:(A) Timber;(B) Land upon which timber grows; or(C) Land from which timber has been removed;(2) “Secondary purchaser”…

(a) Money a timber purchaser collects for harvested timber is trust money. (b) A timber purchaser and each officer, director, partner, or agent of a timber purchaser are trustees of trust money. (c) Each seller of standing timber is a beneficiary of trust money to the extent of t…

(a) A trustee commits the offense of timber theft if the trustee, knowingly or with intent to defraud, directly or indirectly retains, uses, disperses, or otherwise diverts trust money without first fully paying all of the beneficiaries the purchase price for the timber. (b) A tr…

(1) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this subchapter that:(1) The trustee paid the beneficiaries all trust money to which the beneficiaries were entitled not later than the fifteenth calendar day after the date written notice was given to the trustee, at the trus…

Secondary purchasers shall not be civilly or criminally liable for any act or omission of a timber purchaser which becomes timber theft by operation of this subchapter.