FOREST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 127 



on such conditions as he deems wise, to stipulate and agree to administer and protect 

 for a definite term of years any private forest lands situated upon any such watershed 

 whereon lands may be permanently reserved, held, and administered as national 

 forest lands; but such stipulation or agreement shall provide that the owner of such 

 private lands shall cut and remove the timber thereon only under such rules and 

 regulations, to be expressed in the stipulation or agreement, as will provide for the 

 protection of the forest in the aid of navigation: Provided, That in no case shall the 

 United States be liable for any damage resulting from fire or any other cause. 



SEC. 4. That from the receipts accruing from the sale or disposal of any products 

 or the use of lands or resources from public lands, now or hereafter to be set aside as 

 national forests that have been or may hereafter be turned into the Treasury of the 

 United States and which are not otherwise appropriated, there is hereby appropriated 

 for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nine, the sum of one 

 million dollars, and for each fiscal year thereafter a sum not to exceed two million 

 dollars for use in the examination, survey, and acquirement of lands located on the 

 headwaters of navigable streams or those which are being or which may be developed 

 for navigable purposes: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall expire by 

 limitation on the thirtieth day of June, nineteen hundred and nineteen. 



SEC. 5. That a commission, to be known as the National Forest Reservation Commis- 

 sion, consisting of the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary 

 of Agriculture, and one member of the Senate, to be selected by the President of the 

 Senate, and one member of the House of Representatives, to be selected by the 

 Speaker, is hereby created and authorized to consider and pass upon such lands as 

 may be recommended for purchase as provided in section six of this act, and to fix 

 the price or prices at which such lands may be purchased, and no purchases shall be 

 made of any lands until such lands have been duly approved for purchase by said 

 commission: Provided, That the members of the commission herein created" shall 

 serve as such only during their incumbency in their respective official positions, and 

 any vacancy on the commission shall be filled in the manner as the original appoint- 

 ment. 



SEC. 6. That the commission hereby appointed shall, through its president, annu- 

 ally report to Congress, not later than the first Monday in December, the operations 

 and expenditures of the commission, in detail, during the preceding fiscal year. 



SEC. 7. That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to 

 examine, locate, and recommend for purchase such lands as in his judgment may be 

 necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams, and to report to the 

 National Forest Reservation Commission the results of such examinations: Provided, 

 That before any lands are purchased by the National Forest Reservation Commission 

 said lands shall be examined by the Geological Survey and a report made to the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, showing that the control of such lands will promote or 

 protect the navigation of streams on whose watersheds they lie. 



SEC. 8. That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to purchase, in the 

 name of the United States, such lands as have been approved for purchase by the 

 National Forest Reservation Commission at the price or prices fixed by said commis- 

 sion: Provided, That no deed or other instrument of conveyance shall be accepted or 

 approved by the Secretary of Agriculture under this act until the legislature of the 

 State in which the land lies shall have consented to the acquisition of such land by 

 the United States for the purpose of preserving the navigability of navigable streams. 



SEC 9. That the Secretary of Agriculture may do all things necessary to secure the 

 safe title in the United States to the lands to be acquired under this act; but no 

 payment shall be made for any such lands until the title shall be satisfactory to the 

 Attorney-General and shall be vested in the United States. 



SEC. 10. That such acquisition may in any case be conditioned upon the exception 

 and reservation to the owner, from whom title passes to the United States, of the 

 minerals and of the merchantable timber, or either or any part of them, within or 

 upon such lands at the date of the conveyance; but in every case such exception and 

 reservation, and the time within which such timber shall be removed, and the rules 

 and regulations under which the cutting and removal of such timber and the mining 

 and removal of such minerals shall be done shall be expressed in the written instru- 

 ment of conveyance, and thereafter the mining, cutting, and removal of the minerals 

 and timber so excepted and reserved shall be done only under and in obedience to 

 the rules and regulations so expressed. 



SEC. 11. That whereas small areas of land chiefly valuable for agriculture may of 

 necessity or by inadvertence be included in tracts acquired under this act, the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture may, in his discretion, and he is hereby authorized, upon ap- 

 plication or otherwise, to examine and ascertain the location and extent of such 

 areas as in his opinion may be occupied for agricultural purposes without injury to 

 the forests or to stream flow and which are not needed for public purposes, and may 



