§1737 — Title 43 Public Lands | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary may run studies, investigations, and experiments about how to manage, protect, develop, buy, or transfer public lands. The Secretary can make contracts and cooperative agreements for those activities. The Secretary may take donations of money, services, or property (including for rights-of-way and for cadastral surveys). Money given this way goes into a separate Treasury account and can be used until spent to pay related costs or returned if someone paid more than their share. The Secretary may recruit unpaid volunteers to help the Bureau of Land Management without using civil service hiring rules. Volunteers cannot be used for hazardous jobs, law enforcement, policymaking, or to replace paid employees. The Secretary may cover volunteer costs like travel, supplies, housing, food, recruiting, training, and supervision. Volunteers are not federal employees except for filing claims under title 28 (torts), certain claims under title 5, and claims for loss or damage to a volunteer’s property under section 3721 of title 31. For fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1984, Congress may fund volunteer programs, but no more than $250,000 per year.

Title 43, §1737

Public Lands — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary may conduct investigations, studies, and experiments, on his own initiative or in cooperation with others, involving the management, protection, development, acquisition, and conveying of the public lands.

(b)Subject to the provisions of applicable law, the Secretary may enter into contracts and cooperative agreements involving the management, protection, development, and sale of public lands.

(c)The Secretary may accept contributions or donations of money, services, and property, real, personal, or mixed, for the management, protection, development, acquisition, and conveying of the public lands, including the acquisition of rights-of-way for such purposes. He may accept contributions for cadastral surveying performed on federally controlled or intermingled lands. Moneys received hereunder shall be credited to a separate account in the Treasury and are hereby authorized to be appropriated and made available until expended, as the Secretary may direct, for payment of expenses incident to the function toward the administration of which the contributions were made and for refunds to depositors of amounts contributed by them in specific instances where contributions are in excess of their share of the cost.

(d)The Secretary may recruit, without regard to the civil service classification laws, rules, or regulations, the services of individuals contributed without compensation as volunteers for aiding in or facilitating the activities administered by the Secretary through the Bureau of Land Management.

(e)In accepting such services of individuals as volunteers, the Secretary—

(1)shall not permit the use of volunteers in hazardous duty or law enforcement work, or in policymaking processes or to displace any employee; and

(2)may provide for services or costs incidental to the utilization of volunteers, including transportation, supplies, lodging, subsistence, recruiting, training, and supervision.

(f)Volunteers shall not be deemed employees of the United States except for the purposes of—

(1)the tort claims provisions of title 28;

(2)subchapter 1 11 So in original. Probably should be subchapter “I”. of chapter 81 of title 5; and

(3)claims relating to damage to, or loss of, personal property of a volunteer incident to volunteer service, in which case the provisions of section 3721 of title 31 shall apply.

(g)Effective with fiscal years beginning after September 30, 1984, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of subsection (d), but not more than $250,000 may be appropriated for any one fiscal year.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1990—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 101–286 amended subsec. (f) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (f) read as follows: “Volunteers shall not be deemed employees of the United States except for the purposes of the tort claims provisions of title 28 and subchapter 1 of chapter 81 of title 5, relating to compensation for work injuries.” 1984—Subsecs. (d) to (g). Pub. L. 98–540 added subsecs. (d) to (g).

§1737 Implementation Provisions

Summary

Title 43, §1737

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Citations & Metadata