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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1701. Congressional declaration of policy
(a) The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United
States that -
(1) the public lands be retained in Federal ownership, unless
as a result of the land use planning procedure provided for in
this Act, it is determined that disposal of a particular parcel
will serve the national interest;
(2) the national interest will be best realized if the public
lands and their resources are periodically and systematically
inventoried and their present and future use is projected through
a land use planning process coordinated with other Federal and
State planning efforts;
(3) public lands not previously designated for any specific use
and all existing classifications of public lands that were
effected by executive action or statute before October 21, 1976,
be reviewed in accordance with the provisions of this Act;
(4) the Congress exercise its constitutional authority to
withdraw or otherwise designate or dedicate Federal lands for
specified purposes and that Congress delineate the extent to
which the Executive may withdraw lands without legislative
action;
(5) in administering public land statutes and exercising
discretionary authority granted by them, the Secretary be
required to establish comprehensive rules and regulations after
considering the views of the general public; and to structure
adjudication procedures to assure adequate third party
participation, objective administrative review of initial
decisions, and expeditious decisionmaking;
(6) judicial review of public land adjudication decisions be
provided by law;
(7) goals and objectives be established by law as guidelines
for public land use planning, and that management be on the basis
of multiple use and sustained yield unless otherwise specified by
law;
(8) the public lands be managed in a manner that will protect
the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological,
environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and
archeological values; that, where appropriate, will preserve and
protect certain public lands in their natural condition; that
will provide food and habitat for fish and wildlife and domestic
animals; and that will provide for outdoor recreation and human
occupancy and use;
(9) the United States receive fair market value of the use of
the public lands and their resources unless otherwise provided
for by statute;
(10) uniform procedures for any disposal of public land,
acquisition of non-Federal land for public purposes, and the
exchange of such lands be established by statute, requiring each
disposal, acquisition, and exchange to be consistent with the
prescribed mission of the department or agency involved, and
reserving to the Congress review of disposals in excess of a
specified acreage;
(11) regulations and plans for the protection of public land
areas of critical environmental concern be promptly developed;
(12) the public lands be managed in a manner which recognizes
the Nation's need for domestic sources of minerals, food, timber,
and fiber from the public lands including implementation of the
Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1876, 30 U.S.C.
21a) as it pertains to the public lands; and
(13) the Federal Government should, on a basis equitable to
both the Federal and local taxpayer, provide for payments to
compensate States and local governments for burdens created as a
result of the immunity of Federal lands from State and local
taxation.
(b) The policies of this Act shall become effective only as
specific statutory authority for their implementation is enacted by
this Act or by subsequent legislation and shall then be construed
as supplemental to and not in derogation of the purposes for which
public lands are administered under other provisions of law.
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