Clarke-McNary Act

* Act of June 7, 1924 (P.L. 68-270, Ch. 348, 43 Stat. 653, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 505, 568, 568a, 569, 570)

Note-Sec. 1, 2, 3, and 4 repealed by the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 (92 Stat. 365).

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Sec. 5. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed, in cooperation with the land grant colleges and universities of the various States or, in his discretion, with other suitable State agencies, to aid farmers through advice, educa-tion, demonstrations, and other similar means in establishing, re-newing, protecting, and managing wood lots, shelter belts, windbreaks, and other valuable forest growth, and in harvesting, utilizing and marketing the products thereof. Except for preliminary investiga-tions, the amount expended by the Federal Government under this section in cooperation with any State or other cooperating agency during any fiscal year shall not exceed the amount expended by the State or other cooperating agency for the same purpose during the same fiscal year, and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make expenditures on the certificate of the appropriate State official that the State expenditures, as provided for in this section, have been made. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated annually out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, not more than $500,000 to enable the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out the provisions of this section. (16 U.S.C. 568)

Note-The provisions of sections 3, 4, and 5 of this Act were extended to the Territories and Possessions of the United States by Joint Resolution of April 13, 1926, 44 Stat. 250. (16 U.S.C. 568a)

Sec. 6. [Section 6 of the Weeks Law as amended by this section was further amended by the National Forest Management Act so that this section is no longer applicable.]

Land Acquisition by Donation

Sec. 7. To enable owners of land chiefly valuable for the growing of timber crops to donate or devise such lands to the United States in order to assure future timber supplies for the agricultural and other industries of the State or for other National Forest purposes, the Secre-tary of Agriculture is hereby autho-rized, in his discretion, to accept on behalf of the United States title to any such land so donated or devised, subject to such reservations by the donor of the present stand of merchantable timber or of mineral or other rights for a period not exceeding twenty years as the Sec-retary may find to be reasonable and not detrimental to the purposes of this section, and to pay out of any moneys appropriated for the general expenses of the Forest Service the cost of recording deeds or other expenses incident to the examination and acceptance of title. Any lands to which title is so accepted shall be in units of such size or so located as to be capable of economical ad-min-istration as National Forest either separately or jointly with other lands acquired under this section, or jointly with an existing National Forest. All lands to which title is accepted under this section shall, upon acceptance of title, become National Forest lands, subject to all laws applicable to lands acquired under the Act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), and amend-ments thereto. In the sale of timber from National Forest lands acquired under this section preference shall be given to applicants who will furnish the products desired there-from to meet the necessities of citizens of the United States en-gaged in agriculture in the States in which such National Forest is situat-ed: Provided, That all property, rights, easements, and benefits authorized by this section to be retained by or reserved to owners of lands donated or devised to the United States shall be subject to the tax laws of the States where such lands are located. (16 U.S.C. 569)

Note-The provisions of sections 6 and 7 of this Act were extended to Puerto Rico by Joint Resolution of March 3, 1931, 46 Stat. 1516, subject to the restriction that not to exceed 50,000 acres of land may be acquired in Puerto Rico under section 6.

National Forest Reservation Commission

Sec. 8. The Secretary of Agricul-ture is hereby authorized to ascer-tain and determine the location of public lands chiefly valuable for stream-flow protection or for timber production, which can be economi-cally administered as parts of Na-tional Forests, and to report his findings to the National Forest Reservation Commission established under the Act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), and if the commission shall determine that the administra-tion of said lands by the Federal Government will protect the flow of streams used for navigation or for irrigation, or will promote a future timber supply, the President shall lay the findings of the commission before the Congress of the United States. (16 U.S.C. 570)

Note-The National Forest Reservation Commission was abolished and all its functions transferred to the Secretary by section 17(a) of the National Forest Management Act of 1976.

Lands Reserved For Military

Sec. 9. Where such National Forest is established on land previ-ously reserved for the Army or Navy for purposes of national defense the land shall remain subject to the unhampered use of the De-partment of the Army or Navy Department for said purposes, and nothing in this section shall be construed to relinquish the authority over such lands for purposes of national defense now vested in the department for which the lands were formerly reserved. Any moneys available for the maintenance, im-provement, protection, construction of highways and general administra-tion of the National Forests shall be available for expenditure on the National Forests created under this section. (16 U.S.C. 505)

Note-Authority in section 9 for the President to establish National Forests (16 U.S.C. 471(b)) repealed.