* Act of March 29, 1944 (P.L. 78-273, Ch. 146, 58 Stat. 132;
16 U.S.C. 583, 583a-583i)
Purpose
Sec. 1. In order to promote the stability of forest industries,
of employment, of communities, and of taxable forest wealth, through
continuous supplies of timber; in order to provide for a continuous
and ample supply of forest products; and in order to secure the
benefits of forests in mainte-nance of water supply, regulation
of stream flow, prevention of soil erosion, ameliora-tion of climate,
and preservation of wildlife, the Secretary of Agriculture and
the Secretary of Interior are severally authorized to establish
by formal declaration, when in their respective judgments such
action would be in the public interest, cooperative sustained-yield
units which shall consist of federally owned or administered forest
land under the jurisdiction of the Secre-tary establishing the
unit and, in addition thereto, land which reason-ably may be expected
to be made the subject of one or more of the cooperative agreements
with private landown-ers authorized by section 2 of this Act.
(16 U.S.C. 583)
Cooperative Agreements
Sec. 2. The Secretary of Agri-cul-ture, with respect to forest land under his jurisdiction, and the Sec-re-tary of the Interior, with respect to forest land under his jurisdiction, are severally authorized for the purposes specified in section 1 of this Act, to enter into cooperative agreements with private owners of forest land within a cooperative sustained-yield unit, established pursuant to section 1 of the Act, providing for the co-or-dinated management of such pri-vate forest land and of federally owned or administered forest lands with the sustained-yield unit in-volved.
Each cooperative agreement may give the cooperating private land-owner the privilege of pur-chas-ing without competitive bidding at prices not less than their ap-praised value, subject to periodic readjust-ments of stumpage rates and to such other conditions and requirements as the Secretary may prescribe, timber and other forest products from fed-erally owned or administered forest land within the unit, in accordance with the provi-sions of sustained-yield manage-ment plans formulated or approved by the Secretary for the unit; shall limit the time, rate, and method of cutting or otherwise harvesting timber and other forest products from the land of the coop-erating private landown-er, due con-sideration being given to the charac-ter and condition of the timber, to the rela-tion of the pro-posed cutting to the sustained-yield plan for the unit, and to the produc-tive capacity of the land; shall pre-scribe the terms and conditions, but not the price, upon which the coop-erating private land-owner may sell to any person timber and other forest products from his land, com-pliance by the purchaser with such conditions to be required by the contract of sale; shall contain such provisions as the Secretary deems necessary to protect the rea-sonable interest of other owners of forest land within the unit; and shall con-tain such other provisions as the Secretary believes necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Each cooperative agreement shall be placed on record in the county
or counties in which the land of the cooperating private landowner
covered thereby are located, and the costs incident to such recordation
may be paid out of any funds available for the protection or management
of federally owned or administered forest land within the unit.
When thus recorded, the agreement shall be binding upon the heirs,
successors, and assigns of the owner of such land, and upon purchasers
of timber or other forest products from such land, throughout
the life of such cooperative agreement. (16 U.S.C. 583a)
Establish a Sustained-Yield Unit
Sec. 3. The Secretary of Agri-cul-ture and the Secretary
of the Interior are further severally autho-rized, whenever in
their respective judg-ments the maintenance of a stable community
or communities is pri-marily dependent upon the sale of timber
or other forest products from federally owned or administered
forest land and such maintenance cannot effectively be secured
by following the usual procedure in selling such timber or other
forest products, to establish by formal declaration for the purpose
of main-taining the stability of such commu-nity or communities
a sustained-yield unit consisting of forest land under the jurisdiction
of the Secretary establishing such unit, to determine and define
the boundaries of the community or communities for whose benefit
such unit is created, and to sell, subject to such conditions
and requirements as the Secre-tary believes necessary, feder-ally
owned or administered timber and other forest products from such
unit without competitive bidding at pric-es not less than their
appraised values, to responsible purchasers within such community
or commu-nities. (16 U.S.C. 583b)
Cooperative Agreements
Sec. 4. Each of the said Secre-taries is further authorized
in his discretion to enter into cooperative agreements with the
other Secretary, or with any Federal agency having jurisdiction
over federally owned or administered forest land, or with any
State or local agency having juris-diction over publicly owned
or administered forest land, providing for the inclusion of such
land in any coordinated plan of management otherwise authorized
by the provi-sions of this Act when by such a cooperative agreement
he may be aided in accomplishing the purposes of this Act; but
no federally or publicly owned or administered forest land not
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary establishing the sustained-yield
unit concerned shall be included in any such plan except in pursuance
of a cooperative agr-ee-ment made under this section. (16 U.S.C.
583c)
Notices
Sec. 5. Before any sustained-yield unit authorized by section 1 or section 3 of this Act shall be established, and before any cooperative agreement authorized by section 2 or section 4 of this Act shall be entered into, advance notice thereof shall be given by registered mail or by certified mail to each landowner whose land is proposed to be included and by publication in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the vicinity of the place where the timber is located, and the costs incident to such publication may be paid out of any funds available for the protection or management of the federally owned or administered forest land involved. This notice shall state; (1) the location of the proposed unit; (2) the name of each proposed cooperator; (3) the duration of the proposed cooperative agreement or agree-ments; (4) the location and estimat-ed quantity of timber on the land of each proposed cooperator and on the Federal land involved; (5) the ex-pected rate of cutting of such tim-ber; and (6) the time and place of a public hearing to be held not less than thirty days after the first publi-cation of said notice for the presen-tation of the advantages and disad-vantages of the proposed action to the community or commu-nities affected.
Before any sale agreement made without competition and involving more than $500 in stumpage value of federally owned or administered timber shall be entered into under this Act, advance notice thereof shall be given by publication once weekly for four consecutive weeks in one or more newspapers of gen-eral circulation in the vicinity of the place where the timber is located, and the costs incident to such publi-cation may be paid out of any funds available for the protection or man-agement of federally owned or administered forest land within the unit concerned. This notice shall state: (1) the quantity and appraised value of the timber; (2) the time and place of a public hearing to be held not less than thirty days after the first publication of said notice if requested by the State or county where the timber is located or by any other person deemed to have a reasonable interest in the proposed sale or in its terms; and (3) the place where any request for a public hearing shall be made. Such re-quests need be considered only if received at the place designated in the notice not later than fifteen days after the first publication of such notice. If a request for a hearing is received within the time designated, notice of the holding of the hearing shall be given not less than ten days before time set for such hearing, in the same manner as provided for the original notice.
The determination made by the Secretary having jurisdiction upon
the proposals considered at any hearing, which determination may
include the modification of the terms of such proposals, together
with the minutes or other record of the hearing, shall be available
for public inspection during the life of any coordinated plan
of manage-ment or agreement entered into in consequence of such
determination. (16 U.S.C. 583d)
Authorities
Sec. 6. In addition to any other remedy available under
existing law, upon failure of any private owner of forest land
which is subject to a cooperative agreement entered into pursuant
to this Act to comply with the terms of such agreement, or upon
failure of any purchaser of timber or other forest products from
such land to comply with the terms and conditions required by
such agreement to be included in the contract of sale, the Attorney
Gen-er-al, at the request of the Secretary concerned, is authorized
to institute against such owner or such pur-chas-er a proceeding
in equity in the proper district court of the United States, to
require compliance with the terms and conditions of said cooperative
agreement; and jurisdic-tion is hereby conferred upon said district
courts to hear and determine such proceedings, to order compli-ance
with the terms and conditions of cooperative agreements entered
into pursuant to this Act, and to make such temporary and final
orders as shall be deemed just in the premises. As used in this
section the term "owner" shall include the heirs, successors,
and assigns of the landowner entering into the cooper-a-tive agreements.
(16 U.S.C. 583e)
Lands Authorized for Unit Desig-nation
Sec. 7. Whenever used in this Act, the term "federally
owned or administered forest land" shall be construed to
mean forest land in which, or in the natural resources of which,
the United States has a legal or equitable interest of any character
sufficient to entitle the United States to control the management
or dis-po-sition of the timber or other forest products thereon,
except land here-tofore or hereafter reserved or with-drawn for
purposes which are in-con-sistent with the exercise of the au-thority
conferred by this Act; and shall include trust or restricted Indi-an
land, whether tribal or allotted, except that such land shall
not be included without the consent of the Indians concerned.
(16 U.S.C. 583f)
Regulations
Sec. 8. The Secretary of Agri-cul-ture and the Secretary
of the Interior may severally prescribe such rules and regulations
as may be appropri-ate to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Each Secretary may dele-gate any of his powers and duties under
this Act to other officers or em-ploy-ees of his Department. (16
U.S.C. 583g)
Other Authorities
Sec. 9. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed
to abrogate or curtail any authority conferred upon the Secretary
of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior by any Act relating
to management of fed-erally owned or administered forest lands,
and nothing contained in any such Acts shall be construed to limit
or restrict any authority conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture
or the Secretary of the Interior by this Act. (16 U.S.C. 583h)
Authorizing Appropriations
Sec. 10. Funds available for the protection or management
of feder-ally owned or administered forest land within the unit
concerned may also be expended in carrying out the purposes of
this Act, and there are hereby authorized to be appropriated such
additional sums for the pur-pos-es of this Act as the Congress
may from time to time deem neces-sary, but such additional sums
shall not exceed $150,000 for the Depart-ment of Agriculture and
$50,000 for the Department of the Interior, for any fiscal year.
(16 U.S.C. 583i)