43 U.S.C. § 1702 — Definitions

Page 528 TITLE 43—PUBLIC LANDS § 1702 may be cited as the ‘Federal Land Policy and Manage- ment Act of 1976’.’’ SAVINGS PROVISION Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 701, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2786, provided that: ‘‘(a) Nothing in this Act, or in any amendment made by this Act [see Short Title note above], shall be con- strued as terminating any valid lease, permit, patent, right-of-way, or other land use right or authorization existing on the date of approval of this Act [Oct. 21, 1976]. ‘‘(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act, in the event of conflict with or inconsistency between this Act and the Acts of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874; 43 U.S.C. 1181a–1181j [now 43 U.S.C. 2601 et seq., see Tables for classification]), and May 24, 1939 (53 Stat. 753), inso- far as they relate to management of timber resources, and disposition of revenues from lands and resources, the latter Acts shall prevail. ‘‘(c) All withdrawals, reservations, classifications, and designations in effect as of the date of approval of this Act shall remain in full force and effect until modified under the provisions of this Act or other ap- plicable law. ‘‘(d) Nothing in this Act, or in any amendments made by this Act, shall be construed as permitting any per- son to place, or allow to be placed, spent oil shale, over- burden, or byproducts from the recovery of other min- erals found with oil shale, on any Federal land other than Federal land which has been leased for the recov- ery of shale oil under the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 437, as amended; 30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.). ‘‘(e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as modi- fying, revoking, or changing any provision of the Alas- ka Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688, as amended; 43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). ‘‘(f) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to repeal any existing law by implication. ‘‘(g) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as lim- iting or restricting the power and authority of the United States or— ‘‘(1) as affecting in any way any law governing ap- propriation or use of, or Federal right to, water on public lands; ‘‘(2) as expanding or diminishing Federal or State jurisdiction, responsibility, interests, or rights in water resources development or control; ‘‘(3) as displacing, superseding, limiting, or modi- fying any interstate compact or the jurisdiction or responsibility of any legally established joint or com- mon agency of two or more States or of two or more States and the Federal Government; ‘‘(4) as superseding, modifying, or repealing, except as specifically set forth in this Act, existing laws ap- plicable to the various Federal agencies which are au- thorized to develop or participate in the development of water resources or to exercise licensing or regu- latory functions in relation thereto; ‘‘(5) as modifying the terms of any interstate com- pact; ‘‘(6) as a limitation upon any State criminal stat- ute or upon the police power of the respective States, or as derogating the authority of a local police officer in the performance of his duties, or as depriving any State or political subdivision thereof of any right it may have to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction on the national resource lands; or as amending, lim- iting, or infringing the existing laws providing grants of lands to the States. ‘‘(h) All actions by the Secretary concerned under this Act shall be subject to valid existing rights. ‘‘(i) The adequacy of reports required by this Act to be submitted to the Congress or its committees shall not be subject to judicial review. ‘‘(j) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affect- ing the distribution of livestock grazing revenues to local governments under the Granger-Thye Act (64 Stat. 85, 16 U.S.C. 580h), under the Act of May 23, 1908 (35 Stat. 260, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 500), under the Act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 843, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 501), and under the Act of June 20, 1910 (36 Stat. 557).’’ SEVERABILITY Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 707, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2794, provided that: ‘‘If any provision of this Act [see Short Title note set out above] or the application thereof is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application thereof shall not be affected thereby.’’ REFERENCES TO DIVISION O OF PUB. L. 115–141 Pub. L. 115–141, div. O, § 101(b), Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 1059, as amended by Pub. L. 116–6, § 7(2), Feb. 15, 2019, 133 Stat. 15, provided that: ‘‘A reference to the Wildfire Suppression Funding and Forest Management Activi- ties Act [div. O of Pub. L. 115–141, see Short Title of 2018 Amendment note above], including a reference in a reg- ulation, order, or other law, is deemed to refer to the Stephen Sepp Wildfire Suppression Funding and Forest Management Activities Act.’’ EXISTING RIGHTS-OF-WAY Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 706(b), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2794, provided that: ‘‘Nothing in section 706(a) [see Ta- bles for classification], except as it pertains to rights- of-way, may be construed as affecting the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture under the Act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 35, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 551); the Act of July 22, 1937 (50 Stat. 525, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 1010–1212); or the Act of September 3, 1954 (68 Stat. 1146, 43 U.S.C. 931c).’’ § 1702. Definitions Without altering in any way the meaning of the following terms as used in any other statute, whether or not such statute is referred to in, or amended by, this Act, as used in this Act— (a) The term ‘‘areas of critical environmental concern’’ means areas within the public lands where special management attention is required (when such areas are developed or used or where no development is required) to protect and pre- vent irreparable damage to important historic, cultural, or scenic values, fish and wildlife re- sources or other natural systems or processes, or to protect life and safety from natural hazards. (b) The term ‘‘holder’’ means any State or local governmental entity, individual, partner- ship, corporation, association, or other business entity receiving or using a right-of-way under subchapter V of this chapter. (c) The term ‘‘multiple use’’ means the man- agement of the public lands and their various re- source values so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the present and future needs of the American people; making the most judicious use of the land for some or all of these resources or related services over areas large enough to provide sufficient latitude for periodic adjustments in use to conform to changing needs and conditions; the use of some land for less than all of the resources; a com- bination of balanced and diverse resource uses that takes into account the long-term needs of future generations for renewable and nonrenew- able resources, including, but not limited to, recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish, and natural scenic, scientific and historical values; and harmonious and co- ordinated management of the various resources without permanent impairment of the produc- tivity of the land and the quality of the environ- ment with consideration being given to the rel- Page 529 TITLE 43—PUBLIC LANDS § 1703 1 See References in Text note below. 2 So in original. Probably should be followed by closing quotation marks. ative values of the resources and not necessarily to the combination of uses that will give the greatest economic return or the greatest unit output. (d) The term ‘‘public involvement’’ means the opportunity for participation by affected citi- zens in rulemaking, decisionmaking, and plan- ning with respect to the public lands, including public meetings or hearings held at locations near the affected lands, or advisory mechanisms, or such other procedures as may be necessary to provide public comment in a particular in- stance. (e) The term ‘‘public lands’’ means any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several States and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bu- reau of Land Management, without regard to how the United States acquired ownership, ex- cept— (1) lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf; and (2) lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos. (f) The term ‘‘right-of-way’’ includes an ease- ment, lease, permit, or license to occupy, use, or traverse public lands granted for the purpose listed in subchapter V of this chapter. (g) The term ‘‘Secretary’’, unless specifically designated otherwise, means the Secretary of the Interior. (h) The term ‘‘sustained yield’’ means the achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high-level annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable resources of the public lands consistent with multiple use. (i) The term ‘‘wilderness’’ as used in section 1782 of this title shall have the same meaning as it does in section 1131(c) of title 16. (j) The term ‘‘withdrawal’’ means withholding an area of Federal land from settlement, sale, location, or entry, under some or all of the gen- eral land laws, for the purpose of limiting activi- ties under those laws in order to maintain other public values in the area or reserving the area for a particular public purpose or program; or transferring jurisdiction over an area of Federal land, other than ‘‘property’’ governed by the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, as amended (40 U.S.C. 472) 1 from one de- partment, bureau or agency to another depart- ment, bureau or agency. (k) An ‘‘allotment management plan’’ means a document prepared in consultation with the les- sees or permittees involved, which applies to livestock operations on the public lands or on lands within National Forests in the eleven con- tiguous Western States and which: (1) prescribes the manner in, and extent to, which livestock operations will be conducted in order to meet the multiple-use, sustained- yield, economic and other needs and objectives as determined for the lands by the Secretary concerned; and (2) describes the type, location, ownership, and general specifications for the range im- provements to be installed and maintained on the lands to meet the livestock grazing and other objectives of land management; and (3) contains such other provisions relating to livestock grazing and other objectives found by the Secretary concerned to be consistent with the provisions of this Act and other ap- plicable law. (l) The term ‘‘principal or major uses’’ in- cludes, and is limited to, domestic livestock grazing, fish and wildlife development and utili- zation, mineral exploration and production, rights-of-way, outdoor recreation, and timber production. (m) The term ‘‘department’’ means a unit of the executive branch of the Federal Government which is headed by a member of the President’s Cabinet and the term ‘‘agency’’ means a unit of the executive branch of the Federal Government which is not under the jurisdiction of a head of a department. (n) The term ‘‘Bureau 2 means the Bureau of Land Management. (o) The term ‘‘eleven contiguous Western States’’ means the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. (p) The term ‘‘grazing permit and lease’’ means any document authorizing use of public lands or lands in National Forests in the eleven contiguous western States for the purpose of grazing domestic livestock. (Pub. L. 94–579, title I, § 103, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2745.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This Act, referred to in the opening par. and in sub- sec. (k), is Pub. L. 94–579, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2743, known as the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, referred to in subsec. (j), is act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, 63 Stat. 377, which was substantially re- pealed and restated in chapters 1 to 11 of Title 40, Pub- lic Buildings, Property, and Works, and division C of subtitle I of Title 41, Public Contracts, by Pub. L. 107–217, §§ 1, 6(b), Aug. 21, 2002, 116 Stat. 1062, 1304, which Act enacted Title 40, and Pub. L. 111–350, §§ 3, 7(b), Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3677, 3855, which Act enacted Title 41. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1949 Act note set out under section 101 of Title 41 and Tables. For disposition of sections of former Titles 40 and 41, see Disposition Tables pre- ceding section 101 of Title 40 and section 101 of Title 41. § 1703. Repealed. Pub. L. 118–234, title III, § 315(a), Jan. 4, 2025, 138 Stat. 2903 Section, Pub. L. 106–291, title III, § 330, Oct. 11, 2000, 114 Stat. 996; Pub. L. 109–54, title IV, § 428, Aug. 2, 2005, 119 Stat. 555; Pub. L. 111–8, div. E, title IV, § 418, Mar. 11, 2009, 123 Stat. 747; Pub. L. 112–74, div. E, title IV, § 422, Dec. 23, 2011, 125 Stat. 1045; Pub. L. 113–76, div. G, title IV, § 430, Jan. 17, 2014, 128 Stat. 345, related to co- operative action and sharing of resources by Secre- taries of the Interior and Agriculture.