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 668 Saparability.

PUBLIC LAW 810-JULY 26, 1956

SEC. 203. (a) If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby. (b) The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby expressly reserved. Approved July 26, 1956. Public Law 810

July 26. 1956 [H. R. 9742]

[TOST AT.

CHAPTER 742

AN ACT To provide for the protection of the Olcefenoltee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, against damage from fire and drought.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) for the purpose of protecting the natural features and the very substantial public values represented in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Eefuge, Georgia, from disastrous fires such as those which swept over 80 per centum of the area between October 1954 and June 1955, and for the purpose of safeguarding the forest resources on more than four hundred thousand acres of adjoining lands recently damaged by wildfires originating in or sustained by the desiccated peat deposits in the Okefenokee Swamp, the Secretary of the Interior shall construct a continuous perimeter road around the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge with additional fire access roads (leading from such perimeter road) in and around such refuge; and for the purpose of protecting such refuge against damage from drought he shall construct a sill and dike in the Suwanee River near the point where the river leaves the refuge together with additional sills in the Old Saint Marys River Canal and at such other points within the refuge as he may determine to be necessary to prevent drainage of the Okefenokee Swamp during periods of drought such as those which occurred in 1953-1955 and other years. S u r v e y s for (b) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to conroads, e t c duct such surveys as he deems necessary to provide more adequate protection for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, through the development and construction of perimeter and fire access roads and the installation of water controls as described in subsection (a), against the damaging effects of fire and drought. (c) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to cooperate with State and local authorities in protecting public and private lands from wildfires originating in or sustained by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Reiuge by integrating the perimeter road and fire access roads with existing woods roads in such manner as he determines will best carry out the purpose of this Act. Appropriationa. SEC. 2. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act (1) the sum of $453,500 for the construction of a continuous perimeter road around the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and approximately one hundred and sixty-two miles of fire access roads, together with necessary bridges and culverts, in and around such reiuge, and (2) the sum of $275,000 for the construction of a sill and dike in the Suwanee River and sills at other appropriate points in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Approved July 26, 1956. Okefenokee National Wildlife Rofuge, Ga.

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