TITLE 43 (PUBLIC LANDS)

CHAPTER 35 - FEDERAL LAND POLICY AND MANAGEMENT (1976)

Sec. 1701. Congressional declaration of policy

• (a) The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States that -

• (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;

• (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;

• (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.

Sec. 1712. Land use plans

• (c) Criteria for development and revision
  In the development and revision of land use plans, the Secretary shall -
  • (1) use and observe the principles of multiple use and sustained yield set forth in this and other applicable law;
  • (2) use a systematic interdisciplinary approach to achieve integrated consideration of physical, biological, economic, and other sciences;
  • (3) give priority to the designation and protection of areas of critical environmental concern;
  • (4) rely, to the extent it is available, on the inventory of the public lands, their resources, and other values;
  • (5) consider present and potential uses of the public lands;
  • (6) consider the relative scarcity of the values involved and the availability of alternative means (including recycling) and sites for realization of those values;
  • (7) weigh long-term benefits to the public against short-term benefits;
  • (8) provide for compliance with applicable pollution control laws, including State and Federal air, water, noise, or other pollution standards or implementation plans; and
  • (9) to the extent consistent with the laws governing the administration of the public lands, coordinate the land use inventory, planning, and management activities of or for such lands with the land use planning and management programs of other Federal departments and agencies and of the States and local governments within which the lands are located, including, but not limited to, the statewide outdoor recreation plans developed under the Act of September 3, 1964 (78 Stat. 897), as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l-4 et seq.), and of or for Indian tribes by, among other things, considering the policies of approved State and tribal land resource management programs . . .