[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 43, Volume 2]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 43CFR2400.0-3]



[Page 93-94]

 

                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR

 

    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 

PART 2400_LAND CLASSIFICATION--Table of Contents

 

                Subpart 2400_Land Classification; General

 

Sec.  2400.0-3  Authority.



    (a) All vacant public lands, except those in Alaska, have been, with 

certain exceptions, withdrawn from entry, selection, and location under 

the nonmineral land laws by Executive Order 6910, of November 26, 1934, 

and Executive Order 6964 of February 5, 1935, and amendments thereto, 

and by the establishment of grazing districts under section 1 of the Act 

of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1269), as amended (43 U.S.C. 315). Section 7 

of the Act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1272), as amended (43 U.S.C. 

315f), authorizes the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion to 

examine and classify and open to entry, selection, or location under 

applicable law any lands withdrawn or reserved by Executive Order 6910 

of November 26, 1934, or Executive Order 6964 of February 5, 1935, and 

amendments thereto, or within a grazing district established under that 

act which he finds are more valuable or suitable for the production of 

agricultural crops than for the production of native grasses and forage 

plants, or more valuable or suitable for any other use than for the use 

provided for under said act, or proper for acquisition in satisfaction 

of any outstanding lieu, exchange, or scrip rights or land grant. 

Classification under section 7 is a prerequisite to the approval of all 

entries, selections, or locations under the following subparts of this 

chapter, except as they apply to Alaska and with certain other 

exceptions: Original, Additional, Second, and Adjoining Farm 

Homesteads--subparts 2511, 2512, and 2513; Enlarged Homestead--subpart 

2514; Indian Allotments--part 2530; Desert Land Entries--part 2520; 

Recreation and Public Purposes Act--part 2740 and subpart 2912; State 

Grants for Educational, Institutional, and Park Purposes--part 2620; 

Scrip Selections--part 2610 and Exchanges for the Consolidation or 

Extension of National Forests, Indian Reservations or Indian Holdings--

Group 2200.

    (b) Section 8(b) of the Act of June 28, 1934 (48 Stat. 1272), as 

amended (43 U.S.C. 315g), authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, when 

public interests will be benefited thereby, to accept on behalf of the 

United States title to any privately owned lands within or without the 

boundaries of a grazing district established under that act and in 

exchange therefor to issue patent for not to exceed an equal value of 

surveyed grazing district land or of unreserved surveyed public land in 

the same State or within a distance of not more than 50 miles within the 

adjoining State nearest the base lands. The regulations governing such 

exchanges are contained in Group 2200 of this chapter.

    (c) Section 2455 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (43 U.S.C. 

1171), authorizes the Secretary of the Interior in his discretion to 

order into market and sell at public auction isolated or disconnected 

tracts of public land not exceeding 1,520 acres, and tracts not 

exceeding 760 acres the greater part of which are mountainous or too 

rough for cultivation. The regulations governing such sales are 

contained in part 2710 of this chapter.

    (d) Section 3 of the Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 875, 43 U.S.C. 

1181c), authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to classify, either on 

application or otherwise, and restore to homestead entry, or purchase 

under the provisions of section 2455 of the Revised Statutes, as 

amended, any of the revested Oregon and California Railroad or 

reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant land which, in his judgment, is 

more suitable for agricultural use than for afforestation, 

reforestation, stream-flow protection, recreation, or other public 

purposes. The regulations governing disposal under this act are 

contained in part 2710 of this chapter.

    (e) The Small Tract Act of June 1, 1938 (52 Stat. 609), as amended 

(43 U.S.C. 682a-e), authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, in his 

discretion, to lease or sell certain classes of public lands which he 

classifies as chiefly valuable for residence, recreation, business or 

community site purposes. The regulations governing leases and sales 

under this act are contained in part 2730 and subpart 2913 of this 

chapter.

    (f) The Recreation and Public Purposes Act of June 14, 1926 (44 

Stat. 741), as amended (43 U.S.C. 869-869-4), requires the Secretary of 

the Interior, in the exercise of his discretion to make a determination 

that land is to be used



[[Page 94]]



for an established or definitely proposed project, and in the case of 

Alaska authorizes him to classify certain classes of public lands for 

lease or sale for recreation or other public purposes. The regulations 

governing lease and sale of land under this act are contained in part 

2740 and subpart 2912 of this chapter.

    (g) The Act of July 31, 1939 (53 Stat. 1144), authorizes and 

empowers the Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of the Act 

of August 28, 1937 (supra), in his discretion, to exchange any land 

formerly granted to the Oregon & California Railroad Co., title to which 

was revested in the United States pursuant to the provisions of the Act 

of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218), and any land granted to the State of 

Oregon, title to which was reconveyed to the United States by the 

Southern Oregon Co. pursuant to the provisions of the Act of February 

26, 1919 (40 Stat. 1179), for lands of approximately equal aggregate 

value held in private, State, or county ownership, either within or 

contiguous to the former limits of such grants, when by such action the 

Secretary of the Interior will be enabled to consolidate advantageously 

the holdings of lands of the United States. The regulations governing 

exchanges under this act are contained in part 2260 of this chapter.

    (h) The Alaska Public Sales Act of August 30, 1949 (63 Stat. 679), 

as amended (48 U.S.C. 364a-f), authorizes the Secretary of the Interior 

in his discretion to classify certain classes of public lands in Alaska 

for public sale for industrial or commercial purposes. The regulations 

governing sales of land under this act are contained in part 2770 of 

this chapter.

    (i) The Public Land Sale Act of September 19, 1964 (78 Stat. 988, 43 

U.S.C. 1421-27), authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to 

sell public lands in tracts not exceeding 5,120 acres, that have been 

classified for sale in accordance with a determination that (1) the 

lands are required for the orderly growth and development of a community 

or (2) the lands are chiefly valuable for residential, commercial, 

agricultural (which does not include lands chiefly valuable for grazing 

or raising forage crops), industrial, or public uses or development. The 

regulations governing such sales are contained in part 2720 of this 

chapter.

    (j) The Classification and Multiple Use Act of September 19, 1964 

(78 Stat. 986, 43 U.S.C. 1411-18), authorizes the Secretary of the 

Interior to determine which of the public lands (and other Federal 

lands), including those situated in the State of Alaska exclusively 

administered by him through the Bureau of Land Management shall be (1) 

sold because they are (i) required for the orderly growth and 

development of a community or (ii) are chiefly valuable for residential, 

commercial, agricultural (which does not include lands chiefly valuable 

for grazing or raising forage crops), industrial, or public uses or 

development or (2) retained, at least for the time being, in Federal 

ownership and managed for (i) domestic livestock grazing, (ii) fish and 

wildlife development and utilization, (iii) industrial development, (iv) 

mineral production, (v) occupancy, (vi) outdoor recreation, (vii) timber 

production, (viii) watershed protection, (ix) wilderness preservation, 

or (x) preservation of public values that would be lost if the land 

passed from Federal ownership.