644.408—Interchange of national forest and military and civil works lands.
16 U.S.C. 505a, 505b authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to national forest lands, and the Secretary of a military department, with respect to lands under the control of the military department which lie within or adjacent to the exterior boundaries of a national forest, to interchange such lands, or parts thereof, without reimbursement or transfer of funds whenever they shall determine that such interchange will facilitate land management and provide maximum use thereof, for authorized purposes. This law further provides that no transfer thereunder shall become effective until 45 days after the submission to the Congress by the respective Secretaries of notice of intention to make the interchange. The law also provides, in effect, that lands so transferred shall thereafter be subject only to the laws applicable to the lands of which the transferred lands become a part. Lands under the administrative control of the Congress, both military and civil, and that of the Air Force are within the scope of this law.