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Rules and Regulations

Sec. 5. (a) The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this Act and to furnish such advice and assistance through a cooperative State forestry research unit in the Department as will best promote the purposes of this Act.

(b) The Secretary shall appoint a council of not fewer than sixteen members which shall be constituted to give representation to Federal and State agencies concerned with developing and utilizing the Nation's forest resources, the forest industries, the forestry schools of the

State-certified eligible institutions, State agricultural experiment stations, and volunteer public groups concerned with forests and related natural resources. The council shall meet at least annually and shall submit a report to the Secretary on regional and national planning and coordination of forestry research within the Federal and State agencies, forestry schools, and the forest industries, and shall advise the Secretary on the apportionment of funds. The Secretary shall seek, at least once each year, the advice of the council to accomplish efficiently the purposes of this Act. (16 U.S.C. 582a-4)

Apportionments

Sec. 6. Apportionments among participating States shall be determined by the Secretary after consultation with the council appointed under section 5. In making such apportionments, consideration shall be given to pertinent factors including non-Federal expenditures for forestry research by State-certified eligible institutions, areas of non-Federal commercial forest land, and the volume of timber cut annually. Three per centum of such funds as may be appropriated shall be made available to the Secretary for administration of this Act. These administrative funds may be used for transportation of scientists who are not officers or employees of the United States to research meetings convened for purposes of assessing research opportunities or research planning. (16 U.S.C. 582a-5)

Scope of Forestry Research

Sec. 7. The term "forestry research" as used in this Act shall include investigations relating to:

(1) Reforestation and management of land for the production of crops of timber and other related products of the forest; (2) management of forest and related watershed lands to improve conditions of waterflow and to protect resources against floods and erosion; (3) management of forest and related rangeland for production of forage for domestic livestock and game and improvement of food and habitat for

wildlife; (4) management of forest lands for outdoor recreation; (5) protection of forest land and resources against fire, insects, diseases, or other destructive agents; (6) utilization of wood and other forest products; (7) development of sound policies for the management of forest lands and the harvesting and marketing of forest products; and (8) such other studies as may be necessary to obtain the fullest and most effective use of forest

resources.

(16 U.S.C. 582a-6)

De finition of State

Sec. 8. The term "State" as used in this Act shall include Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. (16 U.S.C. 582a-7)

Relief for Occupants of Invalid Claims

• Act of October 23, 1962 (P.L. 87-851, 76 Stat. 1127; 30 U.S.C. 701-708)

Sec. 1. The Secretary of the Interior may convey to any occupant of an unpatented mining claim which is determined by the Secretary to be invalid an interest, up to and including a fee simple, in and to an area within the claim of not more than (a) five acres or (b) the acreage actually occupied by him, whichever is less. The Secretary may make a like conveyance to any occupant of an unpatented mining claim who, after notice from a qualified officer of the United States that the claim is believed to be invalid, relinquishes to the United States all right in and to such claim which he may have under the mining laws. Any conveyance authorized by this section, however, shall be made only to a qualified applicant, as that term is defined in section 2 of this Act, who applies there for within the period ending June 30, 1971, and upon payment of an amount established in accordance with section 5 of this Act.

As used in this section, the term "qualified officer of the United States" means the Secretary of the Interior or an employee of the Department of the Interior so designated by him: Provided, That the Secretary may delegate his authority to designate qualified officers to the head of any other department or agency of the United States with respect to lands within the administrative jurisdiction of that department or agency. (30 U.S.C. 701)

De fining Qualified Applicant

Sec. 2. For the purposes of this Act, a qualified applicant is a residential occupant-owner, as of the date of enactment of this Act, of valuable improvements in an unpatented mining claim which constitute for him a principal place of residence and which he and his predecessors in interest were in possession of for not less than seven years prior to July 23, 1962. (30 U.S.C. 702)

Consent of Other Agencies

Sec. 3. Where the lands for which application is made under section 1 of this Act have been withdrawn in aid of a function of a Federal department or agency other than the Department of the Interior, or of a State, county, municipality, water district, or other local governmental

subdivision or agency, the Secretary of the Interior may convey an interest there in only with the consent of the head of the governmental unit concerned and under such terms and conditions as said head may deem necessary. (30 U.S.C. 703)

Conveyance of Substituted Land

Sec. 4. (a) If the Secretary of the Interior

determines that conveyance of an interest under section 1 of this Act is otherwise justified but the consent required by section 3 of this Act is not given, he may, in accordance with such procedural rules and regulations as he may prescribe, grant the applicant a right to purchase, for residential use, an interest in another tract of land, five acres or less in area, from tracts made available by him for sale under this Act (1) from the unappropriated and unreserved lands of the United States, or (2) from lands subject to classification under section 7 of the Taylor Grazing Act (48 Stat. 1272), as amended (43 U.S.C. 315f). Said right shall not be granted until arrangements satisfactory to the Secretary have been made for termination of the applicant's occupancy of his unpatented mining claim and for settlement of any liability for the unauthorized use thereof which may have been incurred and shall expire five years from the date on which it was granted unless sooner exercised. The amount to be paid for the interest shall be determined in accordance with section 5 of this Act.

(b) Any conveyance of less than a fee made under this Act shall include provision for removal from the tract of any improvement or other property of the applicant at the close of the period for which the conveyance is made, or if it be an interest terminating on the death of the applicant, within one year thereafter. (30 U.S.C. 704)

Fair Market Value Determination

Sec. 5. The Secretary of the Interior, prior to any conveyance under this Act, shall determine the fair market value of the interest to be conveyed, exclusive of the value of any improvements placed on the lands involved by the applicant or his predecessors in interest. Said value shall be determined as of the date of appraisal. In establishing the purchase price to be paid by the applicant for the interest, the Secretary shall take into consideration any equities of the applicant and his predecessors in interest, including conditions of prior use and occupancy. In any event the purchase price for any interest conveyed shall not exceed its fair market value nor be less than $5 per acre. The Secretary may, in his discretion, allow payment to be made in installments. (30 U.S.C. 705)

Rights of Occupancy

Sec. 6. (a) The execution of a conveyance as

authorized by section 1 of this Act shall not relieve any occupant of the land conveyed of any liability, existing on the date of said conveyance, to the United States for unauthorized use of the land in and to which an interest is conveyed.

(b) Except where a mining claim embracing land applied for under this Act by a qualified applicant was located at a time when the land included therein was withdrawn or otherwise not subject to such location, no trespass charges shall be sought or collected by the United States from any qualified applicant who has filed an application for land in the mining claim pursuant to this Act, based upon occupancy of such claim, whether residential or otherwise, for any period preceding the final administrative determination of the invalidity of the mining claim by the Secretary of the Interior or the voluntary relinquishment of the mining claim, whichever occurs earlier. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed as creating any liability for trespass to the United States, which would not exist in the absence of this Act. Relief under this section shall be limited to persons who file application for conveyances pursuant to section 1 of this Act within the period ending June 30, 1971. (30 U.S.C. 706)

Mineral Interests Reserved

Sec. 7. In any conveyance under this Act the mineral interests of the United States in the land conveyed are hereby reserved for the term of the estate conveyed. Minerals locatable under the mining laws or disposable under the Act of July 31, 1947 (61 Stat. 681), as amended (30 U.S.C. 601-604), are hereby withdrawn from all forms of entry and appropriation for the term of the estate. underlying oil, gas and other leasable minerals of the United States are hereby reserved for exploration and development purposes, but without the right of surface ingress and egress, and may be leased by the Secretary under the mineral leasing laws. (30 U.S.C. 707)

Permitting Assignments to Others

The

Sec. 8. Rights and privileges to qualify an applicant under this Act shall not be assignable, but may pass through devise or descent. (30 U.S.C. 708)

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