Pennsylvania Act 1901-9 — DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY ESTABLISHED

Act text

DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY ESTABLISHED
                   Act of Feb. 25, 1901, P.L. 11, No. 9               Cl. 32
                                  AN ACT

     To establish a Department of Forestry, to provide for its proper
        administration, to regulate the acquisition of land for the
        Commonwealth, and to provide for the control, protection and
        maintenance of Forestry Reservations by the Department of
        Forestry.

        Compiler's Note:  Section 302(h) of Act 18 of 1995, which
            created the Department of Conservation and Natural
            Resources and renamed the Department of Environmental
            Resources as the Department of Environmental Protection,
            provided that the Department of Conservation and Natural
            Resources shall exercise the powers and duties conferred
            upon the Commissioner of Forestry and the State Forestry
            Reservation Commission by Act 9 of 1901.
        Section 1.  (1 repealed Jun. 7, 1923, P.L.498, No.274)
        Section 2.  (2 repealed Dec. 6, 1972, P.L.1482, No.334)
        Section 3.  That the Commissioner of Forestry shall be the
     President and Executive Officer of the Forestry Reservation
     Commission, and also Superintendent of the State Forestry
     Reservations, and shall have immediate control and management,
     under the direction of the Forestry Reservation Commission, of
     all forest lands already acquired or which may hereafter be
     acquired by the Commonwealth, but the power so conferred upon
     said Commissioner of Forestry shall not extend to the
     enforcement of the laws relating to public health or the
     protection of fish and game. It shall be the duty of the
     Commissioner of Forestry to encourage and promote the
     development of forestry, and to obtain and publish information
     respecting the extent and condition of forest lands in the
     State, and to execute all rules and regulations adopted by the
     Forestry Reservation Commission for the enforcement of all laws
     designed for the protection of forests from fire and
     depredation; and he is hereby empowered to employ such detective
     service, and such legal or other services, as may be necessary
     for the protection of the forestry reservations owned by the
     Commonwealth and for the apprehension and punishment of persons
     who may violate any of the forestry reservation laws, or any of
     the rules and regulations, which, under the powers herein given,
     may be adopted by the Forestry Reservation Commission: Provided,
     That the services so employed and the expenses that may thereby
     be incurred shall be approved by said Forestry Reservation
     Commission and the Governor of the Commonwealth.
        Section 4.  (4 repealed Jun. 7, 1923, P.L.498, No.274)
        Section 5.  The Commissioner of Forestry shall have an office
     at the State Capitol, and it shall be the duty of the Board of
     Commissioners of Public Grounds and Buildings to provide, from
     time to time, the necessary rooms, furniture, apparatus and
     supplies, for the use of the Department of Forestry created
     under the provisions of this act.
        Section 6.  All moneys appropriated by the General Assembly
     in the general appropriation act of one thousand eight hundred
     and ninety-nine for the Division of Forestry of the State
     Department of Agriculture, as for salaries or contingent fund,
     which may remain unexpended at the time of the approval of this
     act, shall be transferred to and be vested in the Department of
     Forestry, hereby created; and the clerk of the Commissioner of
     Forestry, hitherto appointed under the law creating the
     Department of Agriculture, shall be transferred from the
     Department of Agriculture to the Department of Forestry on the
     same salary that he now receives.
        Section 7.  The purchase money for lands acquired and all
     expenses that may be incurred, except the salaries of the
     Commissioner of Forestry and his clerk, shall be paid by the
     State Treasurer out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise
     appropriated, on warrant of the Auditor General, upon vouchers
     duly approved by resolution of the Forestry Reservation
     Commission and the Governor of the Commonwealth.
        Section 8.  The title of all lands acquired by the
     Commonwealth for forestry reservations shall be taken in the
     name of the Commonwealth and shall be held by the Commissioner
     of Forestry, and such lands shall not be subject to warrant,
     survey or patent, under the laws of the Commonwealth authorizing
     the conveyance of vacant or unappropriated lands, and all such
     forestry reservation lands shall be exempt from taxation from
     the time of their acquisition. In all cases where lands have
     been purchased, or may hereafter be purchased, by the Forestry
     Reservation Commission for forest reservations, where there are
     public roads, regularly established, running into or through
     said lands, the Commissioner of Forestry, under such rules and
     regulations as the Forestry Reservation Commission is hereby
     authorized to adopt, may expend a sum not exceeding twenty-five
     dollars per mile in each year for the maintenance, repair or
     extension of any such roads, and on roads bordering on
     reservations one-half of this rate per mile may be expended. All
     expenses that may thus be incurred shall be subject to the
     approval of the Forestry Reservation Commission and the Governor
     of the Commonwealth, and shall be paid in the same manner as
     other expenses are provided for in this act.
        Section 9.  The Commissioner of Forestry shall receive the
     moneys to which the State may be entitled by virtue of the sale
     of any timber, or by virtue of any leases or contracts relating
     to the disposition of minerals, as hereinbefore provided, and he
     shall immediately pay the same over to the State Treasurer as a
     part of the revenue of the Commonwealth. The said Commissioner
     of Forestry shall give his bond to the Commonwealth, with two
     sureties, to be approved by the Governor, in the sum of ten
     thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of the duties
     imposed by this act and for the proper accounting of any moneys
     to the Commonwealth that may come into his hands by virtue of
     his position as Commissioner of Forestry.
        Section 10.  (10 repealed Jun. 7, 1923, P.L.498, No.274)