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of said commission. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 14, 36 Stat. 963; June 26, 1934, ch. 756, § 2, 48 Stat. 1225.)

REPEAL

Effective July 1, 1935, the permanent appropriation provided for in this section was repealed by act June 26, 1934, cited to text, such act authorizing, in lieu thereof an annual appropriation from the general fund of the Treasury. See section 725a (b) of Title 31, Money and Finance.

§ 515. Examination, location, and recommendation for purchase of forested, cut-over, or denuded lands, and report by Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to examine, locate, and recommend for purchase such forested, cut-over, or denuded lands within the watersheds of navigable streams as in his judgment may be necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams or for the production of timber and to report to the National Forest Reservation Commission the results of such examination; but before any lands are purchased by the commission said lands shall be examined by the Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Director of the Geological Survey, and a report made by them_to_the commission showing that the control of such lands by the Federal Government will promote or protect the navigation of streams or by the Secretary of Agriculture showing that such control will promote the production of timber thereon. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 6, 36 Stat. 962; June 7, 1924, ch. 348, § 6, 43 Stat. 654.)

§ 516. Purchase of lands approved by commission; consent of State; exchange of lands; cutting and removing timber.—The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to purchase, in the name of the United States, such lands as have been approved for purchase by the National Forest Reservation Commission at the price or prices fixed by said commission. No deed or other instrument of conveyance shall be accepted or approved by the Secretary of of Agriculture under this section until the legislature of the State in which the land lies shall have consented to the acquisition of such land by the United States for the purpose of preserving the navigability of navigable streams. With the approval of the National Forest Reservation Commission as provided by this section and section 515 of this title, and when the public interests will be benefited thereby, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, in his discretion, to accept on behalf of the United States title to any lands within the exterior boundaries of national forests acquired under said sections which, in his opinion, are chiefly valuable for the purposes as therein stated, and in exchange therefor to convey by deed not to exceed an equal value of such national forest land in the same State, or he may authorize the grantor to cut and remove an equal value of timber within such national forests in the same State, the values in each case to be determined by him. 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

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given in such exchanges shall be cut and removed under the laws and regulations relating to such national forests, and under the direction and supervision and in accordance with the requirements of the Secretary of Agriculture. Lands so accepted by the Secretary of Agriculture shall, upon acceptance, become parts of the national forests within whose exterior boundaries they are located, and be subject to all the provisions of sections 480, 500, 513-519 and 521 of this title. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 7, 36 Stat. 962; Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 473, 43 Stat. 1215.)

§ 517. Title to lands to be acquired. The Secretary of Agriculture may do all things necessary to secure the safe title in the United States to the lands to be acquired under sections 513-519 and 521 of this title, but no payment shall be made for any such lands until the title shall be satisfactory to the Attorney General and shall be vested in the United States. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 8, 36 Stat. 962.)

CROSS REFERENCE

Condemnation awards to be paid when Attorney General advises that proceedings and decree are regular, see section 517a of this title.

§ 517a. Payment of awards in condemnation proceedings.-In condenmnation proceedings, heretofore or hereafter prosecuted, for the acquisition of lands under sections 513-519 and 521 of this title, in which a decree is entered vesting title thereto in the United States upon payment of the award into the registry of the court, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make such payment when advised by the Attorney General that the proceedings and the decree are regular. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 8, 36 Stat. 962; Dec. 11, 1926, ch. 5, 44 Stat. 919.)

§ 518. Acquisition of lands not defeated by rights-of-way, easements, and reservations.-Such acquisition by the United States shall in no case be defeated because of located or defined rights of way, easements, and reservations, which, from their nature will, in the opinion of the National Forest Reservation Commission and the Secretary of Agriculture, in no manner interfere with the use of the lands so encumbered, for the purposes of sections 480, 500, 513-519, and 521 of this title. Such rights of way, easements, and reservations retained by the owner from whom the United States receives title, shall be subject to the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture for their occupation, use, operation, protection, and administration, and such rules and regulations shall be expressd in and made part of the written intrument conveying title to the lands to the United States; and the use, occupation, and operation of such rights of way, easements, and reservations shall be under, subject to, and in obedience with the rules and regulations so expressed. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 9, 36 Stat. 962; Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 145, 37 Stat. 855.)

§ 519. Agricultural lands included in tracts acquired; sale for homesteads. Inasmuch as small areas of land chiefly valuable for agriculture may of necessity or by inadvertence be included in tracts acquired under this section and sections 513-518 of this title, the Secretary of Agriculture may, in his discretion, and

he is authorized, upon application or otherwise, to examine and ascertain the location and extent of such areas as in his opinion may be occupied for agricultural purposes without injury to the forests or to stream flow and which are not needed for public purposes, and may list and describe the same by metes and bounds, or otherwise, and offer them for sale as homesteads at their true value, to be fixed by him, to actual settlers, in tracts not exceeding eighty acres, in area, under such joint rules and regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; and in case of such sale the jurisdiction over the lands sold shall, ipso facto, revert to the State in which the lands sold lie. And no right, title, interest, or claim in or to any lands acquired under said sections, or the waters thereon, or the products, resources, or use thereof after such lands shall have been so acquired, shall be initiated or perfected, except as in this section provided. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 10, 36 Stat. 962.)

§ 519a. Transfer of forest reservation lands for military purposes. If any of the lands purchased or to be purchased by the United States under the provisions of sections 513-521 of this title, within the limits of townships 1, 2, and 3 north, ranges 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, in Forrest and Perry Counties, States of Mississippi, are determined to be chiefly valuable and necessary for a National Guard encampment and related military purposes, the Secretary of Agriculture, with the consent and approval of the National Forest Reservation Commission established by section 513 of this title, may, and he hereby is, authorized to convey full title to said lands to the State of Mississippi or the War Department of the United States: Provided, That there is paid into the Treasury of the United States, or made available by transfer on the books of said Treasury, sums of money equal to the full amounts expended by the Department of Agriculture for the purchase of said lands, and the money so paid into or transferred on the books of the Treasury shall be available for expenditure by the Secretary of Agriculture for the purchase of other lands under the provisions of said sections 513-521. (Mar. 2, 1935, ch. 21, 49 Stat. 37.)

§ 520. Regulations as to mineral resources.-The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, under general regulations to be prescribed by him, to permit the prospecting, development, and utilization of the mineral resources of the lands acquired under sections 513-519 of this title, upon such terms and for specified periods or otherwise, as he may deem to be for the best interests of the United States; and all moneys received on account of charges, if any, made under said sections shall be disposed of as is provided by existing law for the disposition of receipts from national forests. (Mar. 4, 1917, ch. 179, 39 Stat. 1150.)

§ 521. Lands acquired to be reserved, held, and administered as national forest lands; designation.-Subject to the provisions of section 519 of this title the lands acquired under sections 513519 of this title shall be permanently reserved, held, and administered as national forest lands under the provisions of section 471 of this title and acts suplemental to and amendatory thereof. And the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time divide the

lands acquired under the aforesaid sections into such specific national forests and so designate the same as he may deem best for administrative purposes. (Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 11, 36 Stat. 963.)

§ 522. Rights-of-ways for electrical plants.-The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and empowered, under general regulations to be fixed by him, to permit the use of rights of way through the national forests for electrical plants, poles, and lines for the generation and distribution of electrical power, and for telephone and telegraph purposes, and for canals, ditches, pipes and pipe lines, flumes, tunnels, or other water conduits, and for water plants, dams, and reservoirs used to promote irrigation or mining or quarrying, or the manufacturing or cutting of timber or lumber, or the supplying of water for domestic, public, or any other beneficial uses to the extent of the ground occupied by such canals, ditches, flumes, tunnels, reservoirs, or other water conduits or water plants, or electrical or other works permitted hereunder, and not to exceed fifty feet on each side of the marginal limits thereof, or not to exceed fifty feet on each side of the center line of such pipes and pipe lines, electrical, telegraph, and telephone lines and poles, by any citizen, association, or corporation of the United States, where it is intended by such to exercise the use permitted hereunder for any one or more of the purposes herein named. Such permits shall be allowed within or through any national forest, only upon the approval of the chief officer of the department under whose supervision such national forest falls and upon a finding by him that the same is not incompatible with the public interest. All permits given hereunder for telegraph and telephone purposes shall be subject to the provision of sections 1-6 and 8 of Title 47 regulating rights of way for telegraph companies over the public domain. Any permission given by the Secretary of Agriculture under the provisions of this section may be revoked by him or his successor in his discretion, and shall not be held to confer any right, or easement, or interest in, to, or over any national forest. (Feb. 15, 1901, ch. 372, 31 Stat. 790.)

CROSS REFERENCES

Rights-of-way for poles and lines, see section 523 of this title.

Rights-of-way through public lands, provisions of sections 1, 2, and 3 of this title not to affect or modify this section, see section 4 of this title. Rights-of-way to electric power companies, see section 957 of Title 43, Public Lands.

§ 523. Rights-of-way for electrical poles and lines.-The head of the department having jurisdiction over the lands is authorized and empowered, under general regulations to be fixed by him, to grant an easement for rights of way, for a period not exceeding fifty years from the date of the issuance of such grant, over, across, and upon the national forests of the United States for electrical poles and lines, for transmission and distribution of electrical power, and for poles and lines for telephone and telegraph purposes, to the extent of twenty feet on each side of the center line of such electrical, telephone, and telegraph lines and poles, to any citizen, association, or corporation of the United

States, where it is intended by such to exercise the right of way herein granted for any one or more of the purposes herein named. Such right-of-way shall be allowed within or through any national forest only upon the approval of the chief officer of the department under whose supervision or control such national forest falls, and upon a finding by him that the same is not incompatible with the public interest. All or any part of such right of way may be forfeited and annulled by declaration of the head of the department having jurisdiction over the lands for nonuse for a period of two years or for abandonment.

Any citizen, association, or corporation of the United States to whom there has been issued a permit prior to March 4, 1911, for any of the purposes specified herein under any law existing at that date, may obtain the benefit of this section upon the same terms and conditions as shall be required of citizens, associations, or corporations making application under the provisions of this section subsequent to said date. (Mar. 4, 1911, ch. 238, 36 Stat. 1253.)

§ 524. Rights-of-way for dams, reservoirs, or water plants for municipal, mining, and milling purposes.-Rights of way for the construction and maintenance of dams, reservoirs, water plants, ditches, flumes, pipes, tunnels, and canals, within and across the national forests of the United States, are granted to citizens and corporations of the United States for muncipal or mining purposes, and for the purposes of the milling and reduction of ores, during the period of their beneficial use, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and subject to the laws of the State or Territory in which said forests are respectively situated. (Feb. 1, 1905, ch. 288, § 4, 33. Stat. 628.)

§ 525. Rights-of-way for wagon roads or railroads. In the form provided by existing law the Secretary of the Interior may file and approve surveys and plats of any right of way for a wagon road, railroad, or other highway over and across any national forest when in his judgment the public interests will not be injuriously affected thereby. (Mar. 3, 1899, ch. 427, § 1, 30 Stat. 1233.)

CROSS REFERENCE

Laws affecting forest lands, except those which affect appropriating, entering, relinquishing, or patenting such lands, to be executed by Secretary of Agriculture, see section 472 of this title.

§ 526. Establishment and protection of water rights.-There are hereby authorized to be appropriated for expenditure by the Forest Service such sums as may be necessary for the investigation and establishment of water rights, including the purchase thereof or of lands or interests in lands or rights-of-way for use and protection of water rights necessary or beneficial in connection with the administration and public use of the national forests. (Sept. 21, 1944, ch. 412, title II, § 213, 58 Stat. 737.)

CODIFICATION

This section was enacted as a part of the Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944.

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