Section, acts [June 4, 1897, ch. 2, § 1], [30 Stat. 35]; [June 9, 1900, ch. 804], [31 Stat. 661]; [Feb. 1, 1905, ch. 288, § 1], [33 Stat. 628]; [June 30, 1906, ch. 3913], [34 Stat. 684]; [Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 457, § 3], [43 Stat. 1132]; [May 27, 1952, ch. 337], [66 Stat. 95], authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to sell timber from national forests. See [section 472a of this title].
Validation of Timber Sales Contracts
[Pub. L. 94–588, § 15], Oct. 22, 1976, [90 Stat. 2960], provided that:“(a) Timber sales made pursuant to the Act of June 4, 1897 ([30 Stat. 35], as amended; [16 U.S.C. 476]), prior to the date of enactment of this section [Oct. 22, 1976] shall not be invalid if the timber was sold in accord with Forest Service silvicultural practices and sales procedures in effect at the time of the sale, subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section.“(b) The Secretary of Agriculture is directed, in developing five-year operating plans under the provisions of existing fifty-year timber sales contracts in Alaska, to revise such contracts to make them consistent with the guidelines and standards provided for in the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, as amended [[16 U.S.C. 1600] et seq.], and to reflect such revisions in the contract price of timber. Any such action shall not be inconsistent with valid contract rights approved by the final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.”
