Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 2.djvu/1491

 PUBLIC LAW 94-588—OCT. 22, 1976 528-531) and the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 476; 16 U.S.C. 1601-1610), the Secretary of Agriculture, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, may sell, at not less than appraised value, trees, portions of trees, or forest products located on National Forest System lands. (b) All advertised timber sales shall be designated on maps, and a prospectus shall be available to the public and interested potential bidders. (c) The length and other terms of the contract shall be designed to promote orderly harvesting consistent with the principles set out in section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, as amended. Unless there is a finding by the Secretary of Agriculture that better utilization of the various forest resources (consistent with the provisions of the Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960) will result, sales contracts shall be for a period not to exceed ten years: Provided, That such period may be adjusted at the discretion of the Secretary to provide additional time due to time delays caused by an act of an agent of the United States or by other circumstances beyond the control of the purchaser. The Secretary shall require the purchaser to file as soon as practicable after execution of a contract for any advertised sale with a term of two years or more, a plan of operation, which shall be subject to concurrence by the Secretary. The Secretary shall not extend any contract period with an original term of two years or more unless he finds (A) that the purchaser has diligently performed in accordance with an approved plan of operation or (B) that the substantial overriding public interest justifies the extension. (d) The Secretary of Agriculture shall advertise all sales unless he determines that extraordinary conditions exist, as defined by regulation, or that the appraised value of the sale is less than $10,000. If, upon proper offering, no satisfactory bid is received for a sale, or the bidder fails to complete the purchase, the sale may be offered and sold without further advertisement. (e) The Secretary of Agriculture shall take such action as he may deem appropriate to obviate collusive practices in bidding for trees, portions of trees, or forest products from National Forest System lands, including but not limited to— (1) establishing adequate monitoring systems to promptly identify patterns of noncompetitive bidding; (2) requiring sealed bidding on all sales except where the Secretary determines otherwise by regulation; and (3) requiring that a report of instances of such collusive practices or patterns of noncompetitive bidding be submitted to the Attorney General of the United States with any and all supporting data. (f) The Secretary of Agriculture, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, is authorized to dispose of, by sale or otherwise, trees, portions of trees, or other forest products related to research and demonstration projects. (g) Designation, marking when necessary, and supervision of harvesting of trees, portions of trees, or forest products shall be conducted by persons employed by the Secretary of Agriculture. Such persons shall have no personal interest in the purchase or harvest of such products and shall not be directly or indirectly in the employment of the purchaser thereof. (h) The Secretary of Agriculture shall develop utilization standards, methods of measurement, and harvesting practices for the removal of trees, portions of trees, or forest products to provide for

90 STAT. 2959

Maps and prospectus. Contract.

Ante, p. 2952.

16 USC 528 note

Filing.

Sales, advertisement.

Collusive practices, obviation.

Report, submittal to Attorney General. Rules and regulations.

Standards, methods, and practices.

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