§ 1507. Withdrawal of lands to protect watersheds; withdrawal under reclamation laws; restoration

Whenever a municipality obtains its water supply from a national forest and has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture for the protection of the watershed within the national forest from which the water is secured, the President of the United States may, upon application by said municipality, endorsed by the governing board of the county or counties in which the lands concerned are located and approved by the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior, reserve and set aside from all forms of location, entry, or appropriation any national-forest lands, which are covered by such cooperative agreement, subject, however, to valid, existing rights and claims, and such reservation shall remain in force until revoked by the President or by an Act of Congress. Nothing herein shall affect the power of the Secretary of the Interior to withdraw and utilize withdrawn lands under chapters 195-203 of this title. The President, upon recommendation of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, may, by Executive order, when in his judgment the public interest would best be served thereby and after reasonable notice has been given through the Department of the Interior, restore any of the lands so withdrawn to appropriation under an applicable publicland law.

§ 1508. Administration of lands by Secretary of Agriculture Lands withdrawn under the provisions of section 1507 of this title shall be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture under such agreements for the protection of the watershed as he may make with the municipality concerned. The Secretary of Agriculture may, in addition to the rules and regulations adopted for the administration of the national forests, adopt and prescribe such further rules and regulations as he considers necessary to effect the adequate protection of the watershed, including a rule or regulation forbidding persons other than forest officers and representatives of the municipality from going on the lands so reserved or making any use whatever thereof. § 1509. Resources withheld from use; payments by municipalities to Forest Service

Whenever national-forest lands are withdrawn under section 1507 of this title, and the municipality concerned objects to the utilization of the timber or other resources of lands withdrawn, and the Secretary of Agriculture agrees to withhold such resources from utilization, said municipality shall pay to the Forest Service annually an amount which the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine is necessary to reimburse

the United States for the loss of net annual revenues which would be derived from the resources so withheld from disposition.

§ 1510. Existing rights preserved

Lands withdrawn from all forms of entry or appropriation under the public-land laws for national-forest purposes shall remain subject to prior existing legal rights initiated under the public-land laws, so long as such claims are maintained as required by applicable law or laws and shall be subject to such permits and licenses as may be granted or issued by the Department of Agriculture under laws or regulations generally applicable to national forests.

§ 1511. Exchange of lands in national forests; timber rights When the public interests will be benefited thereby, the Secretary of the Interior may accept on behalf of the United States title to any lands within the exterior boundaries of national forests established under section 1501 of this title which, in the opinion of the Secretary of Agriculture, are chiefly valuable for national-forest purposes, and in exchange therefor may patent not to exceed an equal value of such national-forest land, in the same State, surveyed and non-mineral in character, or the Secretary of Agriculture may authorize the grantor to cut and remove an equal value of timber within the national forests of the same State, the values in each case to be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture. Before any such exchange is effected notice of the contemplated exchange reciting the lands involved shall be published once each week for four successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties in which may be situated the lands to be accepted, and in some like newspaper published in any county in which may be situated any lands or timber to be given in such exchange. Timber given in such exchanges may be cut and removed only under the laws and regulations relating to the national forests, and under the direction and supervision and in accordance with the requirements of the Secretary of Agriculture. Lands conveyed to the United States under this section shall, upon acceptance of title, become parts of the national forest within whose exterior boundaries they are.

§ 1512. Exchange of lands in national forests; reservations of timber, minerals, or easements

Either party to an exchange under section 1511 of this title may make reservations of timber, minerals, or easements, the values of which shall be duly considered in determining the values of the exchanged lands. Where reservations are made in lands conveyed to the United

States the right to enjoy them shall be subject to such reasonable conditions respecting ingress and egress and the use of the surface of the land as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture. Where mineral reservations are made in lands conveyed by the United States it shall be so stipulated in the patents, and it shall be further stipulated that any person who acquires the right to mine and remove the reserved deposits may enter and occupy so much of the surface as may be required for all purposes incident to the mining and removal of the minerals therefrom, and may mine and remove such minerals upon payment to the owner of the surface for damages caused to the land and improvements thereon. All property, rights, easements, and benefits authorized by this section to be retained by or reserved to owners of lands conveyed to the United States shall be subject to the tax laws of the States where such lands are located.

§ 1513. Mineral or agricultural lands; restoration to public domain; location and entry

Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, with the approval of the President, after sixty days' notice thereof, published in two papers of general circulation in the State or Territory wherein any national forest is situated, and near the said national forest, any public lands embraced within the limits of any such forest which, after due examination by personal inspection of a competent person appointed for that purpose by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be found better adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes than for forest usage, may be restored to the public domain. Any mineral lands in any national forest which have been or which may be shown to be such, subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the United States and the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue to be subject to such location and entry, notwithstanding any provisions contained in this part.

§ 1514. Agricultural lands opened to homestead entry

The Secretary of Agriculture may, upon application or otherwise, examine and ascertain the location and extent of lands within national forests except in the counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, in the State of California, which are chiefly valuable for agriculture, and which, in his opinion, may be occupied for agricultural purposes without injury to such national forests and which are not needed for public purposes. He may list and describe the same by metes and bounds, or otherwise, and file the lists and descriptions with the Secretary of the Interior, with the request that the said lands be

opened to entry in accordance with the provisions of the homestead laws and this section and section 1515 of this title.

Upon the filing of any such list or description the Secretary of the Interior shall declare the said lands open to homestead settlement and entry in tracts not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in area and not exceeding one mile in length, at the expiration of sixty days from the filing of the list in the land office of the district within which the lands are located, during which period the said list or description shall be prominently posted in the land office and advertised for a period of not less than four weeks in one newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the lands are situated. Any entryman desiring to obtain patent to any lands described by metes and bounds entered by him under the provisions of this section and section 1515 of this title shall, within five years of the date of making settlement, file, with the required proof of residence and cultivation, a plat and field notes of the lands entered, made by or under the direction of the Bureau of Land Management, showing accurately the boundaries of such lands, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and by posting a copy of such plat, together with a notice of the time and place of offering proof, in a conspicuous place on the land during the period prescribed by law for the publication of his notice of intention to offer proof. A copy of such plat and field notes shall also be kept posted in the office of the Bureau of Land Management for the land district in which such lands are situated for a like period. Any agricultural lands within national forests may, at the discretion of the Secretary, be surveyed by metes and bounds, and no lands entered under the provisions of this section and section 1515 of this title shall be patented under the commutation provisions of the homestead laws, but settlers, upon final proof, shall have credit for the period of their actual residence upon the lands covered by their entries. No land listed under the aforesaid sections shall pass from the forest until patent issues. § 1515. Future settlements on lands within reserves, and rights of former bona fide settlers

Nothing contained within section 1514 of this title shall be held to authorize any future settlement on any lands within national forests until such lands have been opened to settlement as provided in said sections, or to in any way impair the legal rights of any bona fide homestead settler who has or shall establish residence upon public lands prior to their inclusion within a national forest.

§ 1516. Entries in Black Hills National Forest subject to mining

laws and to appropriation of waters

All entries under section 1514 of this title in the Black Hills National Forest shall be subject to the quartz or lode mining laws of the United States, and the laws and regulations permitting the location, appropriation, and use of the waters within the said national forest for mining, irrigation, and other purposes. No titles acquired to agricultural lands in said Black Hills National Forest under said sections shall vest in the patentee any riparian rights to any stream or streams of flowing water within said forest. Such limitation of title shall be expressed in the patents for the lands covered by such entries.

§ 1517. Right of homestead entry denied to certain lands; Custer National Forest

No applications may be accepted by the Secretary of Agriculture for the classification and listing of any land in the Custer National Forest for homestead entry under the provisions of section 1514 of this title, nor shall any lands be so classified for entry under the provisions of section 1514 of this title. However, the Secretary of Agriculture may, in his discretion, list limited tracts when in his opinion such action. will be in the public interest and will not be injurious to other settlers or users of the national forest.

§ 1518. Mining locations within national forests; use of surface; timber cutting

Mining locations made under mining laws of the United States within an area or areas, in any national forest, designated and described by the Secretary of Agriculture shall confer on the locator the right to occupy and use so much of the surface of the land covered by the location as may be reasonably necessary to carry on prospecting, mining, and beneficiation of ores including the taking of mineral deposits and timber required by or in the mining and ore reducing operations, and no permit shall be required or charge made for such use or occupancy. However, the cutting and removal of timber, except where clearing is necessary in connection with mining operations or to provide space for buildings or structures used in connection with mining operations, shall be conducted in accordance with the rules for timber cutting on adjoining national-forest land. No use of the surface of the claim or the resources therefrom not reasonably required for carrying on mining and prospecting shall be allowed except under the national-forest rules and regulations, nor shall the locator prevent or obstruct other occupancy of the surface