Sec. 23-31. Acquisition of property for development as state forests.
Sec. 23-31. Acquisition of property for development as state forests. (a) The
Commissioner of Environmental Protection may accept gifts, donations or contributions
of land suitable for forestry or park purposes and enter into cooperative agreements with
the federal government, its agents or departments, for acquiring, by lease, purchase or
otherwise, such lands as in the judgment of said commissioner are desirable for state
forests or state parks and at such price as may be mutually agreed upon. Said commissioner may cooperate with the federal government, its agents or departments in working
out a mutually satisfactory plan defining forest areas within the state which may be most
effectively and economically administered by the state.
(b) When lands are acquired or leased under this section, said commissioner is
authorized to make expenditures from any funds not designated for any other purpose,
for their protection from fire and for the management, development and utilization of
such areas; to sell or otherwise dispose of products from such lands and to make such
regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.
(c) All receipts derived from lands to be acquired from the federal government under
the provisions of this section shall be deposited in the General Fund as provided in
section 23-15.
(d) Said commissioner may prepare standards of forest administration development
and management to insure timber production and watershed protection, and may furnish
the federal government or any of its departments with such annual, periodic or special
reports as may be required respecting the operations of the state under any cooperative
agreement.
(1949 Rev., S. 3471; March, 1958, P.A. 27, S. 13; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 196.)
History: 1971 act replaced references to commission on forests and wild life with references to environmental protection
commissioner and transferred power to make expenditures from state forester to the commissioner in Subsec. (b).