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United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS), established in 1905, manages 193 million acres of public lands in national forests and grasslands. The Forest Service maintains an Office of Tribal Relations which oversees compliance with numerous policies, statutes, executive orders and reports.

Disposal
The following excerpt was taken from the Congressional Research Service Report Federal Land Ownership: Current Acquisition and Disposal Authorities.

The Secretary of Agriculture has numerous authorities to dispose of NFS lands, all constrained in various ways and seldom used.10

In the oldest (1897), the President was authorized (16 U.S.C. § 473):

"... to revoke, modify, or suspend any and all Executive orders and proclamations or any part thereof issued under section 471 of this title [which had authorized the President to create forest reserves], from time to time as he shall deem best for the public interests. By such modification he may reduce the area or change the boundary lines or may vacate altogether any order creating a national forest."

The 1897 Act also provided for the return to the public domain of lands better suited for agriculture or mining. These provisions on modifying earlier reservations have not been repealed, but in 1976, § 9 of NFMA prohibited returning to the public domain any land reserved or withdrawn from the public domain, except by an act of Congress (16 U.S.C. § 1609).

The 1911 Weeks Law authorizes the Secretary to dispose of NFS land “chiefly valuable for agriculture” which was included in lands acquired (inadvertently or otherwise), if agricultural use will not injure the forests or stream flows and the lands are not needed for public purposes (16 U.S.C. § 519).

The Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 (7 U.S.C. §§ 1010-1012) authorizes the disposal of lands acquired under its authority “under such terms and conditions as he [the Secretary of Agriculture] deems will best accomplish the purposes of this” title, but “only to public authorities and agencies and only on condition that the property is used for public purposes” (7 U.S.C. § 1011(c)). However, the USFS has adopted regulations stating that the Bankhead-Jones lands comprising the national grasslands will be held permanently (36 C.F.R. § 213).

The 1958 Townsites Act authorizes the Secretary to transfer up to 640 acres of NFS land adjacent to communities in Alaska or the 11 western states for townsites, if the “indigenous community objectives ... outweigh the public objectives and values which would be served by maintaining such tract in Federal ownership” (16 U.S.C. § 478a). There is to be a public notice of the application for such transfer, and upon a “satisfactory showing of need,” the Secretary may offer the land to a local governmental entity at “not less than the fair market value.”

The 1983 Small Tracts Act authorizes the Secretary to dispose of NFS land, by sale or exchange, if valued at no more than $150,000 and meets one of three conditions (16 U.S.C. § 521e):


 * parcels of 40 acres or less interspersed with or adjacent to lands transferred out of federal ownership under the mining laws and which are inefficient to administer because of their size or location;
 * parcels of 10 acres or less encroached upon by improvements based in good faith upon an erroneous survey or other land description; or
 * road rights-of-way substantially surrounded by nonfederal land and not needed by the federal government, subject to the right of first refusal for adjoining landowners.

The land can be disposed of for cash, lands, interests in land, or any combination thereof for the value of the land being disposed (§ 521d) plus “all reasonable costs of administration, survey, and appraisal incidental to such conveyance” (§ 521f).

Finally, the Education Land Grant Act, Title II of P.L. 106-577, authorizes the Secretary to transfer up to 80 acres of NFS land for a nominal cost upon written application of a public school district. Section 202(e) provides for reversion of the title to the federal government if the lands are not used for the educational purposes for which they were acquired.

10 This discussion excludes the authority to dispose of administrative sites and related facilities under the Forest Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act of 2005, Title V of P.L. 109-54, the FY2006 Interior appropriations act.

Forest Legacy Program
The Forest Legacy Program (FLP)

"focuses on the acquisition of partial interests in privately owned forest lands. FLP helps the States develop and carry out their forest conservation plans. It encourages and supports acquisition of conservation easements, legally binding agreements transferring a negotiated set of property rights from one party to another, without removing the property from private ownership. Most FLP conservation easements restrict development, require sustainable forestry practices, and protect other values."

Participation in the Forest Legacy Program is limited to private forest landowners and the Program therefore focuses on property acquisition and the creation and acquisition of conservation easements. FLP, administered in cooperation with the States, makes available up to 75% of project costs through federal funding with the balance to be paid by State, local, or private interests.

More information on the Forest Legacy Program can be found U.S. Forest Service's website, with more general information on land owner assistance programs available here.

Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 was "enacted to provide transitional assistance to rural counties affected by the decline in revenue from timber harvests in federal lands." Funding for these payments was to be provided by the sale of certain parcels of National Forest Lands. Initial Congressional authorization expired on September 30, 2006. While re-authorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act did not survive in the FY 2007 budget, the Act did receive funding through September 30, 2007 when appropriations for payments under the Act and extensions of Titles II and III of the Act were included in the Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007, P.L. 110-28. A Federal Register notice summarizes some 3000 individual tracts identified for sale in FY 2007, constituting 304,370 acres in 35 states. Excluded from the FY 2009 budget proposal, re-authorization of the act nevertheless remains popular with several Congressmen such as Greg Walden, R-OR, and could see further attempts at re-introduction.

Additional information on the Secure Rural Schools Act can be found on the U.S. Forest Service's website.