people of the United States. The Secretary shall conduct the survey and analysis under such plans as the Secretary may determine to be fair and equitable, and cooperate with appropriate officials of each State and, either through them or directly, with private or other entities. (16 U.S.C. 1642) RESEARCH FACILITIES AND COOPERATION Sec. 4. (a) In implementing this Act, the Secretary is authorized to establish and maintain a system of experiment stations, research laboratories, experimental areas, and other forest and rangeland research facilities. The Secretary is authorized, with donated or appropriated funds, to acquire by lease, donation, purchase, exchange, or otherwise, land or interests in land within the United States needed to implement this Act, to make necessary expenditures to examine, appraise, and survey such property, and to do all things incident to perfecting title thereto in the United States. (b) In implementing this Act, the Secretary is authorized to accept, hold, and administer gifts, donations, and bequests of money, real property, or personal property from any source not otherwise prohibited by law and to use such gifts, donations, and bequests to (1) establish or operate any forest and rangeland research facility within the United States, or (2) perform any forest and rangeland renewable resource research activity authorized by this Act. Such gifts, donations, and bequests, or the proceeds thereof, and money appropriated for these purposes shall be deposited in the Treasury in a special fund. At the request of the Secretary, the Secretary of the Treasury may invest or reinvest any money in the fund that in the opinion of the Secretary is not needed for current operations. Such investments shall be in public debt securities with maturities suitable for the needs of the fund and bearing interest at prevailing market rates. There are hereby authorized to be expended from such fund such amounts as may be specified in annual appropriation Acts, which shall remain available until expended. (c) In implementing this Act, the Secretary may cooperate with Federal, State, and other governmental agencies, with public or private agencies, institutions, universities, and organizations, and with businesses and individuals in the United States and in other countries. The Secretary may receive money and other contributions from cooperators under such conditions as the Secretary may prescribe. Any money contributions received under this subsection shall be credited to the applicable appropriation or fund to be used for the same purposes and shall remain available until expended as the Secretary may direct for use in conducting research activities authorized by this Act and in making refunds to contributors. (d) The paragraph headed "Forest research:" under the center heading "Forest Service" and the center subheading "Salaries and Expenses" of title I of the Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, 1952 (65 Stat. 233; 16 U.S.C. 5812-1), is amended by inserting a period immediately after the figure "$5,108,603" and by striking all that follows in that paragraph. (16 U.S.C. 1643) COMPETITIVE RESEARCH GRANTS Sec. 5. In addition to any grants made under other laws, the Secretary is authorized to make competitive grants that will further research activities authorized by this Act of Federal, State, and other governmental agencies, public or private agencies, institutions, universities, and organizations, and businesses and individuals in the United States. In making these grants, the Secretary shall emphasize basic and applied research activities that are important to achieving the purposes of this Act, and shall obtain, through review by qualified scientists and other methods, participation in research activities by scientists throughout the United States who have expertise in matters related to forest and rangeland renewable resources. Grants under this section shall be made at the discretion of the Secretary under whatever conditions the Secretary may prescribe, after publicly soliciting research proposals, allowing sufficient time for submission of the proposals, and considering qualitative, quantitative, financial, administrative, and other factors that the Secretary deems important in judging, comparing, and accepting the proposals. The Secretary may reject any or all proposals received under this section if the Secretary determines that it is in the public interest to do so. (16 U.S.C. 1644) GENERAL RESEARCH PROVISIONS Sec. 6. (a) The Secretary may make funds available to cooperators and grantees under this Act without regard to the provisions of section 3648 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 529), which prohibits advances of public money. (b) To avoid duplication, the Secretary shall coordinate cooperative aid and grants under this Act with cooperative aid and grants the Secretary makes under any other authority. (c) The Secretary shall use the authorities and means available to the Secretary to disseminate the knowledge and technology developed from research activities conducted under or supported by this Act. In meeting this responsibility, the Secretary shall cooperate, as the Secretary deems appropriate, with the entities identified in subsection (d)(3) of this section and with others. (d) In implementing this Act, the Secretary, as the Secretary deems appropriate and practical, shalĺ- (1) use, and encourage cooperators and grantees to use, the best available scientific skills from a variety of disciplines within and outside the fields of agriculture and forestry; (2) seek, and encourage cooperators and grantees to seek, a proper mixture of short-term and long-term research and a proper mixture of basic and applied research; (3) avoid unnecessary duplication and coordinate activities under this section among agencies of the Department of Agriculture and with other affected Federal departments and agencies, State agricultural experiment stations, State extension services, State foresters or equivalent State officials, forestry schools, and private research organizations; and (4) encourage the development, employment, retention, and exchange of qualified scientists and other specialists through postgraduate, postdoctoral, and other training, national and international exchange of scientists, and other incentives and programs to improve the quality of forest and rangeland renewable resources research. (e) This Act shall be construed as supplementing all other laws relating to the Department of Agriculture and shall not be construed as limiting or repealing any existing law or authority of the Secretary except as specifically cited in this Act. (f) For the purpose of this Act, the terms "United States" and "State" shall include each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the territories and possessions of the United States. (16 U.S.C. 1645) RESEARCH APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZATION Sec. 7. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated annually such sums as may be needed to implement this Act. Funds appropriated under this Act shall remain available until expended. (16 U.S.C. 1646) REPEAL OF MCSWEENEY-MCNARY ACT; REGULATIONS AND Sec. 8. (a) The Act of May 22, 1928, known as the McSweeney-McNary Act (45 Stat. 699-702, as amended; 16 U.S.C 581, 581a, 581b-581i), is hereby repealed. (b) Contracts and cooperative and other agreements under the McSweeney-McNary Act shall remain in effect until revoked or amended by their own terms or under other provisions of law. (c) The Secretary is authorized to issue such rules and regulations as the Secretary deems necessary to implement the provisions of this Act and to coordinate this Act with title XIV of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977. (d) Funds appropriated under the authority of the McSweeney-McNary Act shall be available for expenditure for the programs authorized under this Act. (16 U.S.C. 1647) EFFECTIVE DATE Sec. 9. The provisions of this Act shall become effective October 1, 1978. (16 U.S.C. 1641(note)) Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 • Act of July 1, 1978 (P.L. 95-313, 92 Stat, 365; 16 U.S.C. 2101(note), 2101-2110, 1606, 2111) Sec. 1. This Act may be cited as the "Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978". (16 U.S.C. 2101(note)) POLICY AND PURPOSE Sec. 2. (a) Congress finds and declares that- (1) most of the Nation's productive forest land is in private, State, and local governmental ownership, and the Nation's capacity to produce renewable forest resources is significantly dependent on these non-Federal forest lands; (2) adequate supplies of timber and other forest resources are essential to the Nation, and adequate supplies are dependent upon efficient methods for establishing, managing, and harvesting trees and processing, marketing, and using wood and wood products; (3) managed forest lands provide habitats for fish and wildlife, as well as esthetics, outdoor recreation opportunities, and other forest resources; (4) insects and diseases affecting trees occur and sometimes create emergency conditions on all land, whether Federal or non-Federal, and efforts to prevent and control such insects and diseases often require coordinated action by both Federal and non-Federal land managers; (5) fires in rural areas threaten human lives, property, and forests and other resources, and Federal-State cooperation in forest fire protection has proven effective and valuable; (6) trees and forests are of great environmental and economic value to urban areas; and (7) managed forests contribute to improving the quality, quantity, and timing of water yields, which are of broad benefit to society. (b) The purpose of this Act is to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the "Secretary"), with respect to non-Federal forest lands, to assist in- (1) the advancement of forest resources management; diseases affecting trees and forests; (4) the prevention and control of rural fires; |