16 U.S.C. § 567b: Conditions and requirements…

Summary

The federal government will not make or keep a cooperative agreement or give lands to a State under sections 567a–567c unless the State meets conditions the Secretary of Agriculture approves. The State must have a law to take tax-delinquent lands into public ownership and put suitable areas into public forests before June 30, 1942 (States with such laws got preference earlier). The State must employ a trained State forester. The Secretary and the State must agree on which forest areas the State will manage. The National Forest Reservation Commission must approve any land purchase before federal money is spent. With that approval, the Secretary may pay current taxes (not penalties) on donated lands that become public forest. The State must set and use forest management standards acceptable to the Secretary. Except for possible federal unemployment relief, the State must pay all future costs to run and develop the lands it manages. While a cooperative agreement lasts, the State must pay one-half of gross proceeds from lands owned by the United States into the Treasury; those payments count toward the State’s purchase price, which equals what the United States spent to buy the land, and full payment lets the State get the title. Agreements can be ended by the State or the Secretary (with Commission approval and a hearing); if ended, the United States may reimburse a fair share of State costs. The State must send reports the Secretary asks for. If a State gets forest land by tax laws at no cost to the United States, the Secretary may pay up to one-half of annual administration and development costs from available funds.

Title 16, §567b

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No cooperative agreement shall be entered into or continued in force under the authority of sections 567a to 567c of this title or any land acquired hereunder turned over to the cooperating State for administration, development, and management unless the State concerned, as a consideration for the benefits extended to it thereunder, complies in a manner satisfactory to the Secretary of Agriculture with the following conditions and requirements which shall constitute a part of every such agreement:

(a)In order to reduce the need for public expenditures in the acquisition of lands which may be brought into public ownership through the enforcement of appropriate tax delinquency laws, and, by bringing about the handling of such lands upon a sound social and economic basis, to terminate a system of indeterminate and unsound ownership injurious to the private and public interest alike, no additional lands shall be acquired within any State by the United States under sections 567a to 567c of this title after June 30, 1942, unless the State concerned has prior thereto provided by law for the reversion of title to the State or a political unit thereof of tax-delinquent lands and for blocking into State or other public forests the areas which are more suitable for public than private ownership, and which in the public interest should be devoted primarily to the production of timber crops and/or the maintenance of forests for watershed protection, and for the enforcement of such law: Provided, That in the administration of sections 567a to 567c of this title prior to June 30, 1942, preference will be given to States applying for cooperation hereunder which provided by law for such reversion of title under tax delinquency laws.

(b)In order to insure a stable and efficient organization for the development and administration of the lands acquired under sections 567a to 567c of this title, the State shall provide for the employment of a State forester, who shall be a trained forester of recognized standing.

(c)The Secretary of Agriculture and the appropriate authorities of each cooperating State shall work out a mutually satisfactory plan defining forest areas within the State which can be most effectively and economically administered by said State, which plan shall constitute a part of the cooperative agreement between the United States and the State concerned: Provided, That nothing herein shall be held to prevent the Secretary of Agriculture from later agreeing with the proper State authorities to desirable modifications in such plan.

(d)No payment of Federal funds shall be made for land selected for purchase by the United States under sections 567a to 567c of this title until such proposed purchase has been submitted to and approved by the National Forest Reservation Commission created by section 513 of this title.

(e)Subject to the approval of the National Forest Reservation Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to pay out of any available money appropriated for carrying out the purposes of sections 567a to 567c of this title any State, county, and/or town taxes, exclusive of penalties, due or accrued on any forest lands acquired by the United States under donations from the owners thereof and which lands are to be included in a State or other public forest pursuant to said sections.

(f)The State shall prepare such standards of forest administration, development, and management as are necessary to insure maximum feasible utility for timber production and watershed protection, and are acceptable to the Secretary of Agriculture and shall apply the same to lands acquired and placed under the jurisdiction of the State pursuant to sections 567a to 567c of this title.

(g)That with the exception of such Federal expenditures as may be made for unemployment relief, the State shall pay without assistance from the Federal Government the entire future cost of administering, developing, and managing all forest lands acquired and over which it has been given jurisdiction under sections 567a to 567c of this title.

(h)During the period any cooperative agreement made under sections 567a to 567c of this title remains in force, one-half of the gross proceeds from all lands covered by said agreement and to which the United States holds title shall be paid by the State to the United States and covered into the Treasury. All such payments shall be credited to the purchase price the State is to pay the United States for said land, such purchase price to be an amount equal to the total sum expended by the United States in acquiring said lands. Upon payments of the full purchase price, either as herein provided or otherwise, title to said lands shall be transferred from the Federal Government to the State, and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to take such action and incur such expenditures, as may be necessary to effectuate such transfer.

(i)Upon the request of the State concerned, any agreement made pursuant to sections 567a to 567c of this title may be terminated by the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary of Agriculture may, with the consent and approval of the National Forest Reservation Commission, after due notice given the State and an opportunity for hearing by said Commission, terminate any such agreement for violations of its terms and/or the provisions of said sections of this title. If such agreement is terminated, the United States shall reimburse the State for so much of the State funds as have been expended in the administration, development, and management of the lands involved as the Secretary of Agriculture may decide to be fair and equitable.

(j)The State shall furnish the Secretary of Agriculture with such annual, periodic, or special reports as he may require respecting the State’s operations under its agreement with him.

(k)When a State or political unit thereof acquires under tax delinquency laws title to forest lands without cost to the United States and which lands are included within a State or other public forest, the Secretary of Agriculture, on behalf of the Federal Government, may contribute annually out of any funds made available under sections 567a to 567c of this title not to exceed one-half the cost of administering, developing, and managing said lands.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

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References in Text

The National Forest Reservation Commission, referred to in subsecs. (d), (e), and (i), was created by section 4 of act Mar. 1, 1911 (16 U.S.C. 513). section 4 of the 1911 Act was repealed, and all functions of the National Forest Reservation Commission were transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture, by section 17(a)(1) of Pub. L. 94–588, Oct. 22, 1976, 90 Stat. 2961.

§567b Conditions and Requirements for Cooperation in Acquisition and Management of State Forests

Summary

Title 16, §567b

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

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