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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§475 Purposes for Which National Forests May Be Established and Administered

Title 16 › CHAPTER 2 — NATIONAL FORESTS › SUBCHAPTER I — ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION › § 475

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

Land the President set aside before June 4, 1897 stays in effect and cannot be canceled. Lands set aside later as national forests must, as much as possible, be managed under these same rules. National forests may only be created to protect and improve the trees inside them, to help keep water flow in good condition, and to provide a steady supply of timber for U.S. citizens. Lands that are more valuable for minerals or farming than for forests should not be made into national forests.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §475

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

All public lands designated and reserved prior to June 4, 1897, by the President of the United States under the provisions of section 471 of this title, the orders for which shall be and remain in full force and effect, unsuspended and unrevoked, and all public lands that may hereafter be set aside and reserved as national forests under said section, shall be as far as practicable controlled and administered in accordance with the following provisions. No national forest shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the boundaries, 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; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions, or of said section, to authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than for forest purposes.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 471 of this title, referred to in text, was repealed by Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 704(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2792. Codification “National forests” and “national forest” substituted in text for “public forest reserves” and “public forest reservation”, respectively, on authority of act Mar. 4, 1907, ch. 2907, 34 Stat. 1269, which provided that forest reserves shall hereafter be known as national forests.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 475

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110