[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: 43CFR2625.2]



[Page 172]

 

                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR

 

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

 

PART 2620_STATE GRANTS--Table of Contents

 

                     Subpart 2625_Swamp-land Grants

 

Sec.  2625.2  Applications in conflict with swamp-land claims.



    Applications adverse to the State, in conflict with swamp-land 

claims, will be governed by the following rules:

    (a) In those States where the adjudication of swamp-land claims is 

based on the evidence contained in the survey returns, applications 

adverse to the State for lands returned as swamp will be rejected unless 

accompanied by a showing that the land is non-swamp in character.

    (b) In such case, the claim adverse to the State must be supported 

by a statement of the applicant under oath, corroborated by two 

witnesses, setting forth the basis of the claim and that at the date of 

the swamp-land grant the land was not swamp and overflowed and not 

rendered thereby unfit for cultivation. In the absence of such affidavit 

the application will be rejected. If properly supported, the application 

will be received and suspended subject to a hearing to determine the 

swamp or nonswamp character of the land, the burden of proof being upon 

the non-swamp claimant.

    (c) In those States where the survey returns are not made the basis 

for adjudication of the swamp-land selections, junior applications for 

lands covered by swamp-land selections may be received and suspended, if 

supported by non-swamp affidavits corroborated by two witnesses, subject 

to hearing to determine the character of the land, whether swamp or non-

swamp, and the burden of proof will be upon the junior applicant. 

Likewise, the State, if a junior applicant, may be heard upon furnishing 

an affidavit corroborated by two witnesses alleging that the land is 

swamp in character within the meaning of the swamp-land grant, in which 

case the burden of proof at the hearing will be upon the State.

    (d) Where hearings are ordered in any such cases, the Rules of 

Practice governing contests will be applied, except as herein otherwise 

provided.