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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-102

§38 Exchange for State or Private Lands Authorized

Title 16 › CHAPTER 1 — NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › SUBCHAPTER V — YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK › § 38

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture may take title to privately or State-owned land in the townships named in section 37 and trade for an equal value of national forest land in the State of Montana that has been surveyed and is not mineral land. The Secretary can instead let the owner cut and remove timber from national forests equal in value. The Secretary will decide the values. Before any trade, a notice naming the lands must be printed once each week for four successive weeks in a general‑circulation newspaper in any county where the lands to be taken or the lands or timber to be given are located. Any timber removed must be cut and taken under national forest laws and the Secretary’s supervision.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §38

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized in his discretion to accept, on behalf of the United States, title to any lands held in private or State ownership within the townships described in section 37 of this title, and in exchange therefor may patent not to exceed an equal value of national forest land in the State of Montana, surveyed and nonmineral in character, or the Secretary of Agriculture may authorize the grantor to cut and remove not to exceed an equal value of timber within the national forests of said State, the values in each case to be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture: Provided, That before any such exchange is effected, notice of the contemplated exchange reciting the lands involved shall be published once each week for four successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties in which may be situated the lands to be accepted and in some like newspaper published in any county in which may be situated any lands or timber to be given in such exchange. Timber given in exchange shall be cut and removed from national forests under the laws and regulations relating to the national forests and under the direction and supervision and in accordance with the requirements of the Secretary of Agriculture.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Functions of Secretary of the Interior under this section, with respect to exchanges of lands held in private or State ownership for national forest lands or timber in Montana, transferred to Secretary of Agriculture, see Pub. L. 86–509, June 11, 1960, 74 Stat. 205, set out as a note under section 2201 of Title 7, Agriculture.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 38

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102