62 NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL LAWS. 



The decision in 28 Op. Atty. Gen., 12, is limited to the case actually 

 presented and decided, namely, that an executive olliccr may refrain 

 from enforcing a contract when some art ion <>i the Government, in its 

 sovereign capacity, has made it inequitable to do so, although the 

 waiver may be prejudicial to its pecuniary interests. That deri.-ioii 

 can not be applied where the only ground for releasing the contractor 

 is that the contract has become less profitable than he expected. (Let- 

 ter of Attorney General to Secretary of Agriculture, dated June 10, 

 1911.) 



It is illegal to include in a timber sale contract a clause providing 

 for a reduction in stumpage price in consideration of the purchaser's 

 reforesting portions of the sale area (Solicitor's letter of Nov. 20, 

 1911, to the Forester), or constructing fire- lines (1 Sol. Op., 437). 



Timber which has been cut by the purchaser and not removed before 

 the date fixed in clause 12 of timber sale Form 202, nevertheless belongs 

 to the purchaser when he has paid the double stumping price pr 

 vided for by clause 14. He may, therefore, remove it from the for 

 after the date fixed in clause 12, but must do so in a reasonable til 

 and under the supervision and direction of the forest officers suj 

 vising the sale. (2 Sol. Op., 836.) 



Secretary of Agriculture may sell insect-infested timber, which 

 a menace to the National Forest, from an unperfected mining claii 

 thereon, even without the consent of the claimant (Lewis et al. 

 Garlock, United States intervenor, 168 Fed., 153). 



In view of the exigency created by the great forest fires of the summc 

 and fall of 1910, and of the facts presented showing the rapid deterio: 

 ation of fire-killed timber in the northern and northwestern States, the 

 Secretary of Agriculture may permit the claimants to sell such 

 timber from homestead and other claims and from unsurveyed or 

 unclassified railroad sections, taking a bond, with adequate security, 

 from the purchaser to protect the interest of the United States, as the 

 same may ultimately appear. (Letter of the Attorney General to the 

 Secretary of Agriculture dated Nov. 23, 1911.) 



It is understood that the foregoing opinion is limited to the situation 

 created by the great fires of 1910, and is not to be applied generally, even 

 to fire-killed timber, especially in regions where such timber does not 

 rapidly deteriorate. (Solicitor to his Assistant at San Francisco, Jan. 

 22, 1912.) 



NOTE. Prior to the receipt of the above-mentioned letter of the Attorney General, 

 the Solicitor had rendered the decisions digested in the four paragraphs next following, 

 which are still applicable, except as above stated. 



The Forest Service is not authorized to sell fire-killed timber upon 

 homesteads, or to enter into an agreement with homesteaders to sell 

 the timber to purchasers and deposit the proceeds in the Treasury to 

 be refunded upon the patenting of the claim. (1 Sol. Op., 327.) 



There is no authority to make an agreement permitting an assignee 

 of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. to cut over lands covered by an 

 unperfected selection under the act of March 2, 1899 (30 Stat., 993). 

 at his own risk, upon filing a bond to indemnify the Government should 

 such selection fail (1 Sol. Op., 463). 



Neither the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. nor the Forest Service, 

 nor the two acting together under agreement, can legally dispose of 

 timber upon unsurveyed unclassified odd sections within the primary 

 limits of the railroad grant. (1 Sol. Op., 327.) 



A mining claim properly marked upon the ground is presumed to be 

 valid until its validity is determined by the Interior Department in a 

 proper proceeding and the Forest Service can not sell timber from 

 such a claim merely because it appears to the Forest Service to be 

 invalid. (1 Sol. Op., 181.) 



GRAZING. 



There are no statutes specifically relating to grazing upon the Na- 

 tional Forests. The grazing regulations are based on the provision 

 . in the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat., 11, 35), which reads as follows: 



p r oTe'cTi on The Secretary of the Interior shall make provisions for the protec- 

 against fire, etc. tion against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public forests 





