PROVISION FROM PUBLIC RESOLUTION 53

Amendment of Section 36 of the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 50), as amended. (Act of June 27, 1934, c. 851, 48 Stat. 1267)

[Permitting irrigation districts to make loans from Reconstruction Finance Corporation, notwithstanding their indebtedness.]

Section 36 of the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of 1933, as amended, is amended

I. By striking the comma and the word "and" after the words "to reduce and refinance its outstanding indebtedness incurred in connection with any such project" in the second sentence thereof and inserting in place thereof the following: "; or, whether or not it has any such indebtedness, to purchase or otherwise acquire in connection with such project storage reservoirs or dams or sites therefor, or additional water rights, or canals, ditches, or rights-of-way for the conduct of water, or other works or appurtenances necessary for the delivery of water, provided such purchase or acquisition is not intended to bring additional lands into production. Such loans".

II. By adding at the beginning of (5) thereof the following: "in the case of a loan to reduce or refinance its outstanding indebtedness,". III. By adding at the beginning of (C) thereof the following: "in the case of a loan to reduce or refinance the outstanding indebtedness of an applicant,". (48 Stat. 1269.)

556

AMENDING ACT OF MAY 25, 1926, WITH RESPECT TO LANGELL VALLEY IRRIGATION DISTRICT

An act to amend the act entitled "An act to adjust water-right charges, to grant other relief on the Federal irrigation projects, and for other purposes," approved May 25, 1926, with respect to certain lands in the Langell Valley irrigation district. (Act of June 27, 1934, c. 849, 48 Stat. 1266)

That the act entitled "An act to adjust water-right charges, to grant other relief on the Federal irrigation projects, and for other purposes", approved May 25, 1926, is amended by adding after section 16 thereof the following new sections:

"SEC. 16-A. All payments upon construction charges shall be suspended against such lands in the Langell Valley irrigation district as the Secretary of the Interior shall cause to be classified as to productivity and as the said Secretary may determine to be temporarily unproductive because nonagricultural and unsuitable for irrigation, and the said Secretary is hereby authorized to reduce the construction obligations of the Langell Valley irrigation district exclusive of costs incurred in the construction of Clear Lake Channel in the ratio and proportion as the number of acres so found and determined to be temporarily unproductive bears to the total number of acres now included as a part of said irrigation district: Provided, That the amount of irrigation water to which the Langell Valley irrigation district is entitled shall be reduced in proportion to the area temporarily suspended from construction charges.

"SEC. 16-B. The Secretary of the Interior, as a condition precedent to the allowance of the benefits offered under section 16-A, shall require the Langell Valley irrigation district to execute a contract providing for the resumption of construction charges by said district upon all, or any, of such acreages so found and determined to be temporarily unproductive, as the Secretary of the Interior may, subsequent to such suspension, find and declare to be possessed of sufficient productive power to be again placed in the paying class."

GRAZING ACT

[AN ACT] To stop injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration, to provide for their orderly use, improvement, and development, to stabilize the livestock industry dependent upon the public range, and for other pur poses. (Act of June 28, 1934, c. 865, 48 Stat. 1269)

[Withdrawal of vacant, unappropriated and unreserved lands Subject to existing rights-Rights-of-way for stock-driving purposes-Hearings to be held-No district to be established until twenty days after notice.]-That in order to promote the highest use of the public lands pending its final disposal, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, by order to establish grazing districts or additions thereto and/or to modify the boundaries thereof, not exceeding in the aggregate an area of eighty million acres of vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved lands from any part of the public domain of the United States (exclusive of Alaska), which are not in national forests, national parks and monuments, Indian reservations, revested Oregon and California Railroad grant lands, or revested Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands, and which in his opinion are chiefly valuable for grazing and raising forage crops: Provided, That no lands withdrawn or reserved for any other purpose shall be included in any such district except with the approval of the head of the department having jurisdiction thereof. Nothing in this Act shall be construed in any way to diminish, restrict, or impair any right which has been heretofore or may be hereafter initiated under existing law validly affecting the public lands, and which is maintained pursuant to such law except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, nor to affect any land heretofore or hereafter surveyed which, except for the provisions of this Act, would be a part of any grant to any State, nor as limiting or restricting the power or authority of any State as to matters within its jurisdiction. Whenever any grazing district is established pursuant to this Act, the Secretary shall grant to owners of land adjacent to such district, upon application of any such owner, such rights-of-way over the lands included in such district for stock-driving purposes as may be necessary for the convenient access by any such owner to marketing facilities or to lands not within such district owned by such person or upon which such person has stock-grazing rights. Neither this Act nor the Act of December 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 862; U. S. C., title 43, secs. 291 and following), commonly known as the "Stock Raising Homestead Act", shall be construed as limiting the authority or policy of Congress or the President to include in national forests public lands of the character described in section 24 of the Act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1103; U. S. C., title 16, sec. 471), as amended, for the purposes set forth in the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 35; U. S. C., title 16, sec. 475), or such other purposes as Congress may specify. Before grazing dis

tricts are created in any State as herein provided, a hearing shall be held in the State, after public notice thereof shall have been given, atsuch location convenient for the attendance of State officials, and the settlers, residents, and livestock owners of the vicinity, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Interior. No such district shall be established until the expiration of ninety days after such notice shall have been given, nor until twenty days after such hearing shall be held: Provided, however, That the publication of such notice shall have the effect of withdrawing all public lands within the exterior boundary of such proposed grazing districts from all forms of entry of settlement. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as in any way altering or restricting the right to hunt or fish within a grazing district in accordance with the laws of the United States or of any State, or as vesting in any permittee any right whatsoever to interfere with hunting or fishing within a grazing district.

SEC. 2. [Secretary to regulate Districts-To study erosion and flood control-$500 fine for violation.]-The Secretary of the Interior shall make provision for the protection, administration, regulation, and improvement of such grazing districts as may be created under the authority of the foregoing section, and he shall make such rules and regulations and establish such service, enter into such cooperative agreements, and do any and all things necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Act and to insure the objects of such grazing districts, namely, to regulate their occupancy and use, to preserve the land and its resources from destruction or unnecessary injury, to provide for the orderly use, improvement, and development of the range; and the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to continue the study of erosion and flood control and to perform such work as may be necessary amply to protect and rehabilitate the areas subject to the provisions of this Act, through such funds as may be made available for that purpose, and any willful violation of the provisions of this Act or of such rules and regulations thereunder after actual notice thereof shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $500.

SEC. 3. [Grazing permits for ten years to be issued.]-That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to issue or cause to be issued permits to graze livestock on such grazing districts to such bona fide settlers, residents, and other stock owners as under his rules and regulations are entitled to participate in the use of the range, upon the payment annually of reasonable fees in each case to be fixed or determined from time to time: Provided, That grazing permits shall be issued only to citizens of the United States or to those who have filed the necessary declarations of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws and to groups, associations, or corporations authorized to conduct business under the laws of the State in which the grazing district is located. Preference shall be given in the issuance of grazing permits to those within or near a district who are landowners engaged in the livestock business, bona fide: occupants or settlers, or owners of water or water rights, as may be necessary to permit the proper use of lands, water or water rights owned, occupied, or leased by them, except that until July 1, 1935, no preference shall be given in the issuance of such permits to any

such owner, occupant, or settler, whose rights were acquired between January 1, 1934, and December 31, 1934, both dates inclusive, except that no permittee complying with the rules and regulations laid down by the Secretary of the Interior shall be denied the renewal of such permit, if such denial will impair the value of the grazing unit of the permittee, when such unit is pledged as security for any bona fide loan. Such permits shall be for a period of not more than ten years, subject to the preference right of the permittees to renewal in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, who shall specify from time to time numbers of stock and seasons of use. During periods of range depletion due to severe drought or other natural causes, or in case of a general epidemic of disease, during the life of the permit, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion to remit, reduce, refund, in whole or in part, or authorize postponement of payment of grazing fees for such depletion period so long as the emergency exists: Provided further, That nothing in this Act shall be construed or administered in any way to diminish or impair any right to the possession and use of water for mining, agriculture, manufacturing, or other purposes which has heretofore vested or accrued under existing law validly affecting the public lands or which may be hereafter initiated or acquired and maintained in accordance with such law. So far as consistent with the purposes and provisions of this Act, grazing privileges recognized and acknowledged shall be adequately safeguarded, but the creation of a grazing district or the issuance of a permit pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall not create any right, title, interest, or estate in or to the lands. (48 Stat. 1271.)

SEC. 4. [Fences, wells, and other improvements may be constructedPermittees to comply with State law.]-Fences, wells, reservoirs, and other improvements necessary to the care and management of the permitted livestock may be constructed on the public lands within such grazing districts under permit issued by the authority of the Secretary, or under such cooperative arrangement as the Secretary may approve. Permittees shall be required by the Secretary of the Interior to comply with the provisions of law of the State within which the grazing district is located with respect to the cost and maintenance of partition fences. No permit shall be issued which shall entitle the permittee to the use of such improvements constructed and owned by a prior occupant until the applicant has paid to such prior occupant the reasonable value of such improvements to be determined under rules and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior. The decision of the Secretary in such cases is to be final and conclusive.

SEC. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior shall permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him, the free grazing within such districts of livestock kept for domestic purposes; and provided that so far as authorized by existing law or laws hereinafter enacted, nothing herein contained shall prevent the use of timber, stone, gravel, clay, coal, and other deposits by miners, prospectors for mineral, bona fide settlers and residents, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and domestic purposes within areas subject to the provisions of this Act.