THE FOREST ACT. 



No. 1148.— An Act to regulate the use of the public forests and forest 

 reserves in the Philippine Islands and repealing General Orders, 

 Numbered Ninety-two, series of nineteen hundred. Act Numbered 

 Two hundred and seventy-four, and sections twenty of Act Num- 

 bered Forty-nine, eleven of Act Numbered One hundred and nine- 

 teen, and eleven of Act Numbered One hundred and twenty. 



By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine 

 Commission, that: 



Section 1. The short title of this Act shall be "The Forest 

 Act." 



Sec. 2. The public forests and forest reserves of the Philippine 

 Islands shall be held and administered for the protection of the 

 public interests, the utility and safety of the forests, and the per- 

 petuation thereof in productive condition by wise use; and it is 

 the purpose of this Act to provide for the same. 



Sec. 3. The public forests shall include all unreserved public 

 lands covered with trees of whatever age. 



Sec. 4. Upon the recommendation of the Chief of the Bureau 

 of Forestry, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, 

 the Civil Governor may set apart forest reserves from the 

 public lands, and he shall by proclamation declare the establish- 

 ment of such reserves and the boundaries thereof, and thereafter 

 such forest reserves shall not be entered, sold, or otherwise 

 disposed of, but shall remain as such for forest uses, and shall 

 be administered, except as provided in this section, in like manner 

 as the public forests under this Act: Provided, That the Civil 

 Governor may in like manner by proclamation alter or modify 

 the boundaries of any forest reserve from time to time, or revoke 

 any such proclamation, and upon such revocation such forest 

 reserve shall be and become part of the public lands as though 

 such proclamation had never been made. 



Sec. 5. The public forests and forest reserves and the timber, 

 firewood, gums, and other products thereof shall not be sold, 

 entered, leased, or otherwise disposed of except as herein provided: 

 Provided, That any mining claim, as defined in section one of 

 Act Numbered Six hundred and twenty-four, entitled "An Act 

 prescribing regulations governing the location and manner of 

 recording mining claims, and the amount of work necessary to 

 hold possession of a, mining claim, under the provisions of the 

 Act of Congress approved July first, nineteen hundred and two, 

 entitled 'An Act temporarily to provide for the administration 

 of the affairs of civil government in the Philippine Islands, and 

 for other purposes,'" in any of the public forests and forest 

 reserves shall be entered only as provided in said Act Numbered 

 Six hundred and twenty-four, and the provisions of this Act 

 shall not be applicable to the entry and location of such claims, 

 but they shall be governed by Act Numbered Six hundred and 



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