Washington : Government Printing Office
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, except as otherwise provided in section 2 hereof, the following functions are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture:
(j) The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under section 2 (b) of the Joint Resolution of August 8, 1947 (61 Stat. 921), with respect to appraisals and sales of certain lands within the Tongass National Forest.
(a) In no case covered by subsections (a), (b), (e), (g), and (h) of section 1 hereof shall the exchange provide for the patenting of land by the United States without a reservation of minerals (1) unless the Secretary of Agriculture has obtained the advice of the Secretary of the Interior that the land is nonmineral in character, or (2) unless the Secretary of the Interior approves of the valuation and disposition of the minerals in the lands to be patented. A sale of land covered by subsection (j) of section 1 hereof shall be made by the Secretary of Agriculture without a reservation of minerals only after consultation with, and the approval of, the Secretary of the Interior as to the valuation and disposition of the minerals. No lands of the United States shall be exchanged in any case covered by subsection (f) of section 1 hereof unless the Secretary of Agriculture has obtained the advice of the Secretary of the Interior that such lands are nonmineral in character.
(b) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to determine or adjudicate the validity or invalidity of any mining claim or part thereof.
(c) Nothing in subsection (1) of section 1 hereof shall be construed to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to dispose of coal, phosphate, sodium, potassium, oil, oil shale, gas, or sulfur, or to dispose of any minerals which would be subject to disposal under the mining laws if said laws were applicable to the lands in which the minerals are situated.
(d) Upon approval by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to the provisions of this Act of any exchange or sale, respectively, of national forest lands under the provisions of law referred to in subsections (a), (b), (e), (f), (g), and (j) of section 1, hereof, the Secretary of the Interior, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, shall issue the patent therefor.
(e) All conveyances under the Act referred to in subsection (h) of section 1 hereof of national forest lands reserved from the public domain shall, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, be made by the Secretary of the Interior.
Approved, June 11, 1960.
