July 3, 1947 Rules and Regulations

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FOREST SERVICE

RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN EXERCISE OF MINERAL RIGHTS
RESERVED IN CONVEYANCES TO THE UNITED STATES

Pursuant to the provisions of the act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), as amended, particularly by the act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 855), and of the act of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465), as amended, I, N. E. Dodd. Acting Secretary of Agriculture, do hereby order that conveyance to the United States of title to lands under the provisions of the acts above cited, or of any acts of similar character heretofore or hereafter enacted, which reserve the right to enter upon the conveyed lands and to prospect for, to mine and remove minerals, oil, gas, or other inorganic substances, hereafter shall embody or be made subject to the following conditions, rules, and regulations:

(a) Whoever undertakes to exercise the reserved rights shall give prior notice to the Forest Supervisor in charge of the lands and shall submit to him satisfactory evidence of authority to exercise such rights. Only so much of the surface of the lands shall be occupied, used, or disturbed as is necessary in bona fide prospecting for, drilling, mining (including the milling or concentration of ores), and removal of the reserved minerals, oil, gas, or other inorganic substances. No permit, as provided for in paragraph (b) of this section, will be required for preliminary examination or exploration to determine the existence of the reserved minerals, oil, gas, or other inorganic substances which will involve only transient and nonexclusive occupancy and only small excavations, test pits or borings, but such activities shall be subject to the general national forest rules and regulations.

(b) None of the lands in which minerals are reserved shall be so used, occupied, or disturbed as to preclude their full use for national forest purposes until the record owner of the reserved rights, or the successors, assigns, or lessees thereof, shall have applied for and received from the Forest Supervisor having jurisdiction a permit authorizing such use, occupancy, or disturbance of those specifically described parts of the lands as may reasonably be necessary to exercise of the reserved rights. Said permit shall be issued by the Forest Supervisor upon agreement as to the lands to be covered thereby and conditions necessary to protect national forest interests, and upon initial payment of the annual fee, which shall be at the rate of $2 per acre, or fraction of acre included in the permit. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the aforesaid permit shall terminate all rights to use, occupy, or disturb the surface of the lands covered thereby, but in event of such termination, a new permit shall be issued upon application when the causes for termination of the preceding permit have been satisfactorily remedied and the United States reimbursed for any resultant damage to it.

(c) All structures, other improvements, and materials shall be removed from the lands within 1 year after date of termination of the aforementioned permit, or of an alternative permit, if any, issued under regulations applicable to national forest lands, and all such structures, improvements, or materials not so removed shall become the property of the United States.

(d) Timber or young growth necessarily removed or utilized in connection with exercise of reserved rights shall be paid for (1) if merchantable at the rates charged in the locality for comparable national forest timber or (2) otherwise at the rates currently assigned by the Forest Supervisor to comparable growth in appraisals of lands to be acquired for national forest purposes. Other timber shall be cut or removed only pursuant to sale agreements or permits issued in accordance with national forest rules and regulations. All slash resulting from cutting or destruction of timber or young growth shall be disposed of as required by the Forest Supervisor.

(e) If exercise of the reserved rights results in stripping, collapse, or other damage to the land or to improvements thereon, the record owner of the reserved rights, or the successors, assigns, or lessees thereof, shall repair or replace the improvements damaged or destroyed, and or restore the land to a condition safe and reasonably serviceable for usual national forest purposes, and prior to commencement of the work which will cause such result shall so notify the Forest Supervisor and provide such bond or cash deposit as will, in the opinion of the Forest Supervisor, guarantee such repair, replacement, or restoration; or the record owner of the reserved rights, or the successors, assigns, or lessees thereof, may deposit in a cooperative fund such amounts as are estimated by the Forest Supervisor to be necessary to accomplish the aforesaid repair or replacement of improvements or restoration of the land, which cooperative deposits shall be available for expenditure by the United States for said purposes with refund to the depositor of the amount, if any, in excess of the cost of such repair, replacement, or restoration, and related supervision.  Where reserved minerals will be extracted by means of shafts, tunnels, pits, or wells, provisions for fencing, covering, filling, or plugging thereof upon termination of the mining activities may be required by the Forest Supervisor, together with delivery of acceptable bond, or such requirement may be met through payment into a cooperative fund of the amounts estimated by the Forest Supervisor to be necessary to fulfill said requirement, which deposits shall be available for expenditure by the United States for the purposes for which deposited, with refund to the depositor of the amount, if any, in excess of the cost of the required work.

(f) In the prospecting for, mining, and removal of reserved minerals, oil, gas, or other inorganic substances, all reasonable provisions shall be made for the disposal of tailings, dumpage, and other deleterious materials or substances in such manner as to prevent obstruction, pollution or deterioration of springs, stream, ponds, or lakes.

(g) Nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt operators or the mining operations from any requirements of applicable State laws nor from compliance with or conformity to any requirements of any law which later may be enacted and which otherwise would be applicable.

(h) While any activities and/or operations incident to the exercise of the reserved rights are in progress the operators, contractors, subcontractors, and any employees thereof who work on the national forest shall use due diligence in the prevention and suppression of fires, shall comply with all national forest rules and regulations, and shall be available for service in the suppression of fires within a reasonable distance of said operations: Provided, That if such fires do not originate from the operations incident to exercise of the reserved rights, and do not threaten structures, improvements, or property employed in or related to such operations, services in fire suppression so rendered shall be paid for at the current rates of fire fighters employed by the United States.

All regulations heretofore issued by the Secretary of Agriculture to govern the exercise of mineral rights reserved in conveyances to the United States shall continue to be effective in the cases to which they are applicable, but are hereby superseded as to mineral rights hereafter reserved.

In testimony thereof I have hereunto set my hand and official seal at the City of Washington this 3d day of July 1947.
 

N. E. DODD,
Acting Secretary of Agriculture
 

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