* Act of March 1, 1911 (P.L. 61-435, Ch. 186, 36 Stat. 961, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 480, 500, 515, 516, 517, 517a, 518, 519, 521, 552, 563)

Agreements to Conserve Forests and Water Supply

Sec. 1. Consent of the Con-gress of the United States is hereby given to each of the several States of the Union to enter into any agreement or compact, not in con-flict with any law of the United States, with any other State or States for the purpose of conserving the forests and the water supply of the States entering into such agreement or compact. (16 U.S.C. 552)

Cooperative Fire Protection

Sec. 2. The Secretary of Agricul-ture is hereby authorized, and on such conditions as he deems wise, to stipulate and agree with any State or group of States to cooperate in the organization and maintenance of a system of fire protection on any private or State forest lands within such State or States and situated upon the watershed of a navigable river: No such stipulation or agree-ment shall be made with any State which has not pro-vided by law for a system of forest-fire pro-tection: In no case shall the amount expended in any State ex-ceed in any fiscal year the amount appropriated by that State for the same purpose during the same fiscal year. (16 U.S.C. 563)

* * * *

Note-Sec. 4 and 5 were repealed by The National Forest Management Act of 1976 (90 Stat. 2949).

Land Acquisition

Sec. 6. The Secretary of Agricul-ture is hereby authorized and direct-ed to examine, locate, and purchase such forested, cutover, or denuded lands within the watersheds of navi-gable streams as in his judgement may be necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams or for the production of timber. No deed or other instrument of convey-ance of lands referred to herein shall be accepted or approved by the Secretary of Agriculture under this Act 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 navigabili-ty of navigable streams. (16 U.S.C. 515)

Land Exchange

Sec. 7. When the public interests will be benefitted thereby, the Sec-re-tary of Agriculture is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to accept on behalf of the United States title to any lands within the exterior bound-aries of national forests which, in his opinion, are chiefly valuable for the purposes of this Act, and in exchange therefore 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: 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 newspa-per of general circulation in the county or counties in which may be situated the lands to be accepted, and in some like newspaper pub-lished in any county in which may be situated any lands or timber to be given in such exchange. Timber 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 subjected to all provisions of this Act. (16U.S.C.516)

Payment in Condemnation Pro-ceeding

Sec. 8. In condemnation proceeding, heretofore or hereafter prosecuted, for the acquisition of lands under this Act, 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. (16U.S.C.517, 517a)

Rights-of-way, Easements

Sec. 9. Such acquisition by the United States shall in no case be defeated because of located or de-fined rights of way, easements, and reservations, which, from their na-ture will, in the opinion of the Sec-retary of Agriculture, in no manner interfere with the use of lands so encumbered, for the purposes of the Act. Such rights of way, easements, and reser-vations retained by the owner from whom the United States receives title, shall be subject to the rules and regula-tions prescribed by the Secretary of Agricul-ture for their occupation, use, operation, protection, and administration, and that such rules and regulations shall be expressed in and made part of the written instrument conveying title to the lands to the United States; and the use, occupa-tion, and operation of such right-of-way, easements, and reservations shall be under, subject to, and in obedience with the rules and regula-tions so expressed. (16 U.S.C. 518)

Sale of Agricultural Land; Sale for Homesteads

Sec. 10. Inasmuch as small areas of land chiefly valuable for agricul-ture may of necessity or by inadver-tence be included in tracts acquired under this Act, the Secretary of Agricul-ture may, in his discretion, and he is hereby authorized, upon application or otherwise, to examine and ascer-tain the location and extent of such areas as in his opinion may be occu-pied for agricultural purpos-es with-out injury to the forests or to stream flow and which are not need-ed 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 ex-ceed-ing eighty acres in area, under such joint rules and regula-tions as the Secretary of Agriculture may pre-scribe; 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 this Act, or the waters thereon, or the products, resources, or use thereof after such lands shall have been so ac-quired, shall be initiated or perfect-ed, except as in this section provid-ed. (16U.S.C. 519)

Designation of Acquired Land

Sec. 11. Subject to the provi-sions of the last preceding section, the lands acquired under this Act shall be permanently reserved, held, and adminis-tered as national forest lands under the provisions of section twenty-four of the Act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one (26 Stat. 1103), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory thereof. And the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time divide the lands acquired under this Act into such specific national forests and so designate the same as he may deem best for administrative purposes. (16U.S.C. 521)

Jurisdiction of the States

Sec. 12. (See Act of June 4, 1897) (16 U.S.C. 480)

Payments to States and Counties; Purchaser Credit

Sec. 13. (See Act of May 23, 1908) (16 U.S.C. 500)