COUNTY, TOWN, AND VILLAGE FORESTS 151 



Disposal of the forests 



The forests shall be subject to such rules and regulations as the govern- 

 ing board of the municipality shall prescribe. The land or parts thereof 

 may be sold or leased on the adoption of a resolution to this effect by 

 two thirds of all the members of the governing board, but such resolution 

 is not effectual unless adopted after a public hearing similar to that pre- 

 ceding the acquisition of the land. 



FULL TEXT OF THE LAW 



Laws of New York. By authority 



Chap. 74 



AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to the acquisition and develop- 

 ment of forest lands by counties, towns and villages. 



Became a law March 26, 1912, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths 



being present. 



The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as 

 follows: 



Section i. Chapter twenty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred and nine, entitled 

 " An act relating to municipal corporations, constituting chapter twenty-four of the 

 consolidated laws," is hereby amended by adding thereto, after section seventy-two, 

 a new section, to be section seventy- two-a, to read as follows: 



72 -a. Acquisition and development of forest lands. The governing board of a 

 county, town or village may severally acquire for such county, town or village, by purchase, 

 gift, lease or condemnation, and hold as the property of such municipality, tracts of land 

 having forests or tree growth thereon, or suitable for the growth of trees, and may appro- 

 priate therefor the necessary moneys of the county, town or village for which the lands are 

 acquired.* Such lands shall be under the management and control of such board and 

 shall be developed and used for the planting and rearing of trees thereon and for the 

 cultivation thereof according to the principles of scientific forestry, for the benefit 

 and advantage of the county, town or village. The determination of any such board 

 to acquire lands under the provisions of this section shall be by resolution ; but the ques- 

 tion of the final adoption of such resolution shall be taken up by the board only after 

 public notice thereof has been published for at least two weeks, as follows: If it be 

 a resolution of a board of supervisors, the publication shall be made in the newspapers 

 in which the session laws and concurrent resolutions are required to be published; 

 if it be a resolution of a town board or of a board of trustees of a village, the publica- 

 tion shall be made in a newspaper published in the town or village, respectively. The 

 board shall give a hearing to all persons appearing in support of or in opposition to such 

 proposed resolution. If it be determined to purchase such lands the moneys necessary 

 therefor may be provided as follows: If the acquisition be by a county, the board of 

 supervisors may cause such moneys to be raised by taxation and levied and collected 

 as other county taxes or may borrow money therefor on the credit of the county by 

 the issuance and sale of county bonds in the manner provided by law for the issuance 

 and sale of other county obligations; if the acquisition be by a town, the moneys neces- 

 sary therefor shall constitute a town charge and be raised by taxation as other town 

 charges, or, the town board may in its discretion, cause town bonds to be issued and 

 sold in the manner provided by law for the issuance and sale of town bonds, under 

 the town law, to pay judgments; if the acquisition be by a village, the moneys therefor 

 may be raised by taxation, as other village taxes, or by the issuance and sale of village 

 bonds in the manner provided by the laws governing such village relating to village 

 obligations, after the adoption of a resolution therefor by the board of trustees, with- 



* The author of this lesson is responsible for the italics. 





