* Act of March 20, 1922 (P.L. 67-173, Ch. 105, 42 Stat. 465;
16 U.S.C. 485, 486)
Note-Implementing regulations are found at 36 CFR 254, Subpart
A.
Sec. 1. When the public interests will be benefitted
thereby, the Sec-re-tary of Agriculture be, and hereby is, authorized
in his discretion to accept on behalf of the United States title
to any lands within exte-rior boundaries of the National Forests
which, in the opinion of the Secretary of Agriculture, are chiefly
valuable for National Forest Purpos-es, and in exchange therefor
the Secretary of the Interior may patent not to exceed an equal
value of such National Forest land, in the same State, surveyed
and nonmineral in character, or the Secretary of Agri-culture
may authorize the grantor to cut and remove an equal value of
timber within the National Forests of the same State; the values
in each case to be determined by the Secre-tary of Agriculture:
Provided, That before any such exchange is effect-ed notice of
the contemplated ex-change 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
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 the National Forests, and under the direction and supervision
and in accordance with the requirements of the Secretary of Agriculture.
Lands conveyed to the United States under this Act shall, upon
acceptance of title, become parts of the National Forest within
whose exterior boundaries they are located. (16 U.S.C. 485)
Sec. 2. Either party to an ex-change may make reservations
of timber, minerals, or easements, the values of which shall be
duly con-sidered in determining the values of the exchanged lands.
Where reser-vations are made in lands conveyed to the United
States the right to enjoy them shall be subject to such reasonable
conditions respecting ingress and egress and the use of the surface
of the land as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture;
where mineral reser-vations are made in lands conveyed by the
United States it shall be so stipulated in the patents, and that
any person who acquires the right to mine and remove the reserved
deposits may enter and occupy so much of the surface as may be
required for all purposes incident to the mining and removal of
the min-erals therefrom, and may mine and remove such minerals
upon payment to the owner of the surface for damages caused to
the land and improvements thereon: Provided, That all property,
rights, easements, and benefits authorized by this section to
be retained by or reserved to owners of lands conveyed to the
United States shall be subject to the tax laws of the States where
such lands are located. (16 U.S.C. 486)
Note-In addition to transferring certain functions from the Secretary
of the Interior to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Act of June
11, 1960 (74 Stat. 205) also provided in Section 2 thereof "In
no case covered by . . . [the March 20, 1922 Act] shall the exchange
provide for the patenting of land by the United States without
a reservation of minerals (1) unless the secretary of Agriculture
has obtained the advice of the Secretary of the Interior that
the land is nonmineral in character, or (2) unless the Secretary
of the Interior approves the valuation and disposition of the
minerals in the land to be patented".
Note-The foregoing Act applies to National Forest land established
from the public domain. The exchange authority applicable to
Weeks Law lands is set forth in section 7 of the Weeks Law.