16 U.S.C. § 535 — Forest development roads; acquisition, construction, and maintenance; maximum economy; methods of financing; cost arrangements for construction standards; transfer of unused effective purchaser credit for road construction

submitted 62 years ago by Pub. L. 88-657 to r/title-16-CONSERVATION · 256 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

The Secretary can build and maintain forest development roads in and near national forests. Roads must balance cheap timber harvesting with protecting and managing forest resources. Funding can come from federal appropriations, timber purchaser costs, or partnerships with other agencies.

The Secretary may provide for acquiring, building, and maintaining forest development roads within and near national forests and other lands the Forest Service manages. These roads must be located and designed to keep timber harvesting as cheap as possible on the land they serve, while still meeting the requirements to protect, develop, and manage that land, and to use its other resources. The Secretary may finance these roads in four ways: (1) using money Congress appropriates; (2) requiring timber purchasers to pay for them, including letting purchasers pay off road costs over time under their contracts; (3) financing them jointly with other public agencies or with private agencies or people; or (4) combining these methods. If a road needs to be built to a higher standard than removing that particular sale's timber and other products actually requires, the timber purchaser does not have to pay for the extra cost of that higher standard — the Secretary is authorized to make arrangements to cover it instead. The Secretary may also, under rules the Secretary sets, let a purchaser transfer unused "effective purchaser credit" for road construction — earned after December 16, 1975 — from one timber sale to another sale to that same purchaser, within the same National Forest.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

The Secretary is authorized to provide for the acquisition, construction, and maintenance of forest development roads within and near the national forests and other lands administered by the Forest Service in locations and according to specifications which will permit maximum economy in harvesting timber from such lands tributary to such roads and at the same time meet the requirements for protection, development, and management thereof, and for utilization of the other resources thereof. Financing of such roads may be accomplished (1) by the Secretary utilizing appropriated funds, (2) by requirements on purchasers of national forest timber and other products, including provisions for amortization of road costs in contracts, (3) by cooperative financing with other public agencies and with private agencies or persons, or (4) by a combination of these methods: Provided, That where roads of a higher standard than that needed in the harvesting and removal of the timber and other products covered by the particular sale are to be constructed, the purchaser of the national forest timber and other products shall not be required to bear that part of the costs necessary to meet such higher standard, and the Secretary is authorized to make such arrangements to this end as may be appropriate. The Secretary is authorized, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, to permit the transfer of unused effective purchaser credit for road construction earned after December 16, 1975, from one timber sale to a purchaser to another timber sale to the same purchaser within the same National Forest.

Source credit: (Pub. L. 88–657, § 4, Oct. 13, 1964, 78 Stat. 1089; Pub. L. 94–154, Dec. 16, 1975, 89 Stat. 823.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1964Enacted · Pub. L. 88-657 · 78 Stat. 1089
1975Amended · Pub. L. 94-154 · 89 Stat. 823

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 88-657 on 1964-10-13.

all 0 arguments · sorted by: best

no arguments yet — make the first case