§ 581j. — Congressional declaration of policy on reforestation and revegetation.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC581j]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 3--FORESTS; FOREST SERVICE; REFORESTATION; MANAGEMENT
SUBCHAPTER II--INVESTIGATIONS, EXPERIMENTS, AND TESTS AFFECTING
REFORESTATION AND FOREST PRODUCTS
Sec. 581j. Congressional declaration of policy on reforestation
and revegetation
It is the declared policy of the Congress to accelerate and provide
a continuing basis for the needed reforestation and revegetation of
national-forest lands and other lands under administration or control of
the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture in order to obtain
the benefits hereinbefore enumerated.
(Oct. 11, 1949, ch. 674, Sec. 1, 63 Stat. 763.)
References in Text
The benefits hereinbefore enumerated, referred to in text, means the
benefits enumerated in the preamble to Joint Res. 53, Oct. 11, 1949, ch.
674, 63 Stat. 762. The preamble is set out as a note below.
Transfer of Functions
Functions of all officers, agencies, and employees of Department of
Agriculture transferred with certain exceptions, to Secretary of
Agriculture by Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1953, Sec. 1, eff. June 4, 1953, 18
F.R. 3219, 67 Stat. 633, set out as a note in Appendix to Title 5,
Government Organization and Employees.
Preamble
The preamble to act Oct. 11, 1949, provided that:
``Whereas the national forests of the United States contain
approximately eighty million acres of the Nation's commercial timber
lands and approximately eighty-three million acres of the Nation's
important grazing lands; and
``Whereas these national-forest lands comprise the principal source
of water supply for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes for
thousands of communities, farms, and industries, and good forest and
other vegetative cover is essential for watershed protection; and
``Whereas these lands annually supply approximately four billion
board-feet of forest products through twenty-seven thousand sales
transactions and the demand for national forest timber is steadily
increasing; and
``Whereas these lands are the sole or main source of summer range
for ten million cattle and sheep grazed by thirty thousand livestock
permittees whose livelihood is wholly or partially dependent upon
livestock grazed on national-forest ranges; and
``Whereas these lands contain over four million acres of denuded and
unsatisfactorily stocked timberlands and an additional four million
acres of seriously depleted range lands; and
``Whereas all of these lands are potentially capable of producing an
important part of the timber and forage needs of local communities, and
contributing to the protection of watersheds, thereby alleviating flood
damage and insuring a continuing water supply, increasing opportunity
for local employment, bringing greater stability to local communities,
and increasing returns to counties in the national forests from their
share of national forests receipts, together with other benefits; and
``Whereas these lands will not restock or revegetate satisfactorily
or within a reasonable time except through reforestation and
revegetation or other measures to induce restocking or revegetation; and
``Whereas it is practical to reforest these denuded and
unsatisfactorily stocked timber lands and revegetate these seriously
depleted range lands in a period of fifteen years; and
``Whereas it is necessary to provide reasonable continuity of
reforestation and revegetation programs in order to insure effective,
efficient, and economical operations: Therefore be it''.
