Title 25, Public Lands

(1) There is established the Legacy Unclaimed Property School Fund within the Common School Fund. (2) The Legacy Unclaimed Property School Fund consists of moneys transferred to the fund under section 7, chapter 424, Oregon Laws 2021. (3) Interest earned by the fund is credited t…

(1) There is established the Unclaimed Property School Fund within the Common School Fund. (2) The Unclaimed Property School Fund consists of: (a) Moneys appropriated or transferred to the fund by the Legislative Assembly or by act of law; and (b) Moneys transferred to the fund f…

The Department of State Lands may use so much of the Common School Fund as is necessary for: (1) The acquisition of lands, easements, and all other interests in real property. (2) Improvement, operation, and maintenance of property, crops, timber, fixtures and appurtenances wheth…

Whenever it appears to the State Land Board to be prudent and to the financial benefit of the Common School Fund, the State Land Board may acquire as an investment for the Common School Fund any parcel of land, whether or not submerged, and submersible lands or formerly submerged…

The Department of State Lands may apply for and receive any private or federal grants, loans or other funds available for the purposes of conducting studies related to the work of the department and coordinating state and federal permitting issues related to removal and fill. [20…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all funds under the control of the Department of State Lands shall be expended by warrant drawn on the State Treasurer, and then only upon proper claim approved by the Director of the Department of State Lands or the authorized represen…

Whenever it appears to the Department of State Lands that any moneys have been erroneously paid to it, the department may make an appropriate refund, or may deliver the moneys to the State Treasurer if the moneys appear to have been misdelivered to the department and to be unclai…

The Department of State Lands may, whenever in its judgment such course is to the best interest of the state, compromise, settle, release and discharge any mortgage, judgment or other claim in favor of the State of Oregon, and arising out of the sale or lease of property within t…

(1) The Department of State Lands may enter into written agreements with any governmental agency for the performance of specialized, technical, professional, administrative or other services and for the furnishing of facilities and materials to carry out provisions of law applica…

In order to provide the Department of State Lands with the specialized assistance necessary to its operations and the transaction of its business, and in addition to other agreements that may be entered into under ORS 273.135, the department may enter into written agreements with…

The Department of State Lands may enter into contracts with any person owning lands adapted to the purposes of ORS 273.316 to 273.345 and 273.511, for the subdivision, settlement and sale of all or any portion thereof, under the direction and supervision of the department and suc…

The Department of State Lands may cooperate with the federal government for the development, settlement, subdivision and disposition of lands belonging to the State of Oregon, or which otherwise may be made available for carrying out the purposes of ORS 273.316 to 273.345 and 273…

The Department of State Lands, in carrying out its duties, may call upon all related state and county agencies, including public universities listed in ORS 352.002 and any state or county officers or public university employees through whom necessary information and aid may be re…

(1) The State Land Board shall appoint a Director of the Department of State Lands to serve for a term of four years, subject to removal at the discretion of the board. (2) The director shall receive such salary as is fixed by the board. In addition to salary, subject to applicab…

Before entering upon the duties of office, the Director of the Department of State Lands shall take an oath to perform faithfully the duties of the director. The director shall give to the state a fidelity bond, with one or more corporate sureties authorized to do business in thi…

(1) The Director of the Department of State Lands is chief executive officer of the Department of State Lands, and is responsible for the administration of the laws conferring powers or imposing duties upon the department, subject to specific policies formulated by the State Land…

Subject to any applicable provision of the State Personnel Relations Law: (1) The Director of the Department of State Lands shall appoint and discharge such personnel as the director considers necessary for the efficient administration of the laws conferring powers or imposing du…

For the purpose of requesting a state or nationwide criminal records check under ORS 181A.195, the Department of State Lands may require the fingerprints of a person who: (1)(a) Is employed or applying for employment by the department; or (b) Provides services or seeks to provide…

(1) The Director of the Department of State Lands shall investigate all trespasses on and damage to state lands and prosecute the same. The director shall appear before appropriate agencies of the United States in all cases involving the title or claim of the state to its granted…

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Personal property” includes any item that is reasonably recognizable as belonging to an individual, including books, photographs, personal documents such as identification and Social Security cards, camping equipment, sleeping bags, blankets, bic…

(1) The Department of State Lands shall create a program whereby the department may enter into agreements with volunteers, businesses and other agencies to allow those parties, on a voluntary basis, to assist in the operation of department programs and to assist in the maintenanc…

(1) In order to further the interpretive and educational functions of state lands in Oregon, the Director of the Department of State Lands may enter into an agreement with a private, nonprofit scientific, historic or educational organization organized solely for the purpose of pr…

The Department of State Lands shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of ORS 273.197. The rules shall include: (1) Procedures and forms to be used by an organization entering into an agreement with the Director of the Department of State Lands under ORS 273.197. (2) Guideline…

Before any person shall take any material from any real property of the State of Oregon, except in the manner and for the purposes mentioned in ORS 274.525 or 274.550, the person shall apply to the Department of State Lands for a lease. The application shall include a complete de…

(1) No person shall remove material from any real property of the State of Oregon for commercial uses without complying with ORS 273.225, 274.550 and 274.560. (2) The establishment or placing of a dredging or digging outfit on any waters, the submersible or submerged lands of whi…

The Department of State Lands may inspect and audit books, records and accounts of each person removing material from any real property of the State of Oregon, and make other investigation and secure or receive other evidence necessary to determine whether or not the department i…

(1) Removal of material from any property of the State of Oregon under the control of the Department of State Lands by any person without lawful authority is a trespass for which the state, in addition to any action commenced under ORS 273.990, may also commence an action for dam…

Not later than January 1, 1996, the State Land Board shall adopt an asset management plan in accordance with this section to guide management and disposition of real estate under the board’s jurisdiction. The Department of State Lands shall provide a report to each odd-numbered y…

(1) The State Land Board, by and through the Department of State Lands or other agency acting on behalf of the State Land Board, shall dispose of isolated parcels of land classified as rangeland by the board in a manner consistent with the asset management plan adopted under ORS …

Unless the context or a specially applicable definition requires otherwise, state lands are classified as follows: (1) “Agricultural college lands.” Lands granted to the state by the Act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stat. 503), and otherwise, for the support and maintenance of Oregon Stat…

Any individual who is 18 years of age or older and who is a citizen of the United States, or has declared an intention to become a citizen, may apply to purchase state lands. [1967 c.421 §51 (enacted in lieu of 273.030)]

An individual eligible under ORS 273.255 may file an application with the Director of the Department of State Lands for the purchase of state lands other than farmlands. The application must be made in a form prescribed by the Department of State Lands, contain a correct and prec…

(1) If application is made for the purchase of submersible lands, the applicant must cause such lands to be surveyed at the expense of the applicant by a surveyor, whose selection is subject to prior approval by the Department of State Lands. The survey must connect with and conf…

Except as limited by ORS 270.020 and 273.225 to 273.241 and 274.040, and as in its judgment the interests of the state demand, the Department of State Lands: (1) Shall fix the price at which all classes of state lands may be sold and the interest to be charged on deferred payment…

The Department of State Lands shall require applicants for the purchase of submersible lands to pay in full for such lands at the time of purchase. Applicants for the purchase of school, agricultural college, university, swamp or indemnity lands shall make payments at such times,…

(1) When an applicant to purchase state lands desires to make payments in installments as provided in ORS 273.281, the Department of State Lands shall, upon receipt of one-fifth of the purchase price of the land applied for, deliver to the purchaser a certificate that the purchas…

If any installment of the purchase price of land, principal or interest, remains unpaid for one year after the same becomes due, the certificate issued under ORS 273.285 shall be canceled by order of the Department of State Lands. All payments thereon shall be forfeited and the l…

All assignments of certificates of sale shall be executed and acknowledged in the same manner as a deed to real estate. The assignee, upon full payment of the amount due on the purchase price, and delivery to the Department of State Lands of such certificate and assignment, shall…

Whenever any purchaser of state lands holding a certificate of sale therefor has paid three-fifths or more of the purchase price thereof, the Director of the Department of State Lands may execute a deed conveying the lands to such purchaser, upon the purchaser’s executing: (1) A …

(1) Upon full payment of the purchase price and any accrued interest thereon the Director of the Department of State Lands shall execute a deed to the purchaser in a form prescribed by the rules of the Department of State Lands. (2) The department shall maintain appropriate recor…

(1) In all cases where clerical errors have been made in deeds for any state lands sold, upon satisfactory proof and if the rights of innocent parties have not intervened, the Director of the Department of State Lands may execute corrected deeds to the holders thereof. (2) Where …

(1) The Department of State Lands may exchange any state lands under its control for any other lands in this state for the purpose of accumulating larger and contiguous tracts of state lands. The department may enter into the necessary contracts to accomplish such purposes, subje…

(1) Before exchanging any state lands for other lands under ORS 273.316, the Department of State Lands shall give notice to the lessees of those state lands considered for exchange by sending by certified or registered mail a notice containing a general description of the state l…

In all cases where the Department of State Lands believes that any lands were acquired from the state by fraud or in violation of the laws relating to the disposal thereof, it may: (1) Enter into contracts with the persons asserting ownership thereto for the subdivision and sale …

When lands that the Department of State Lands believes were acquired from the State of Oregon by fraud or in violation of the laws of the state are held by any person owning other lands the title to which is not involved, the department may provide as a condition to the contract …

The object of ORS 273.340 and 273.345 is to make available for settlement and development the lands to which the State of Oregon is entitled as indemnity and the remaining unsold state lands, and to make available for the Common School Fund the proceeds from the sale of such land…

The Department of State Lands shall ascertain the amount of indemnity lands to which the State of Oregon is entitled from the federal government and procure such lands in as large and contiguous tracts as practicable, having in view its adaptability for agriculture or its value f…

Before making selections under ORS 273.340, the Department of State Lands shall determine the advisability of making such selections in large and contiguous tracts within the national forest reserves. If it is found that such selections will be advantageous to the State of Oregon…

(1) The Director of the Department of State Lands shall: (a) Select as indemnity lands such vacant government lands as may be applied for by legal applicants, upon receipt of their applications to purchase, together with the nonmineral affidavit and filing fees, as required by th…

As used in ORS 273.356 to 273.375, unless the context requires otherwise, “grantee” includes the successor in interest of a grantee. [Derived from 1967 c.422 §1]