§ 113-34. Power to acquire lands as State forests, parks, and other recreational areas; donations or leases by United States; leases for recreational purposes. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 113‑34.  Power to acquire lands as Stateforests, parks, and other recreational areas; donations or leases by UnitedStates; leases for recreational purposes.

(a)        The Governor may, upon recommendation of the Department,accept gifts of land to the State to be held, protected, and administered bythe Department as State forests, and to be used so as to demonstrate thepractical utility of timber culture and water conservation, and as refuges forgame. The gifts of land must be absolute except in cases where the mineralinterest on the land has previously been sold. The Department may purchaselands in the name of the State, suitable chiefly for the production of timber,as State forests, for experimental, demonstration, educational, park, andprotection purposes, using for these purposes any special appropriations orfunds available. The Department may acquire by condemnation under theprovisions of Chapter 40A of the General Statutes, areas of land in differentsections of the State that may in the opinion of the Department be necessaryfor the purpose of establishing or developing State forests, State parks, andother areas and developments essential to the effective operation of the Stateforestry and State park activities under its charge. Condemnation proceedingsshall be instituted and prosecuted in the name of the State, and any propertyso acquired shall be administered, developed, and used for experiment anddemonstration in forest management, for public recreation, and for otherpurposes authorized or required by law. Before any action or proceeding underthis section can be exercised, the approval of the Governor and Council ofState shall be obtained and filed with the clerk of the superior court in thecounty or counties where the property is located. The Attorney General shallensure that all deeds to the State for land acquired under this section areproperly executed before the gift is accepted or payment of the purchase moneyis made.

(b)        The Department may accept as gifts to the State any forestand submarginal farmland acquired by the federal government that is suitablefor the purpose of creating and maintaining State forests, game refuges, publicshooting grounds, State parks, State lakes, and other recreational areas, or toenter into longtime leases with the federal government for the areas andadminister them with funds secured from their administration in the bestinterest of longtime public use, supplemented by any appropriations made by theGeneral Assembly. The Department may segregate revenue derived from Statehunting and fishing licenses, use permits, and concessions and other properrevenue secured through the administration of State forests, game refuges,public shooting grounds, State parks, State lakes, and other recreational areasto be deposited in the State treasury to the credit of the Department to beused for the administration of these areas.

(c)        The Department, with the approval of the Governor andCouncil of State, may enter into leases of lands and waters for State parks,State lakes, and recreational purposes.

(d),       (e) Repealed by Session Laws 2003‑284, s. 35.1(a),effective July 1, 2003.

(f)         The authority granted to the Department under this sectionis in addition to any authority granted to the Department under any otherprovision of law. (1915, c. 253, s. 1; C.S.,s. 6124; 1925, c. 122, s. 22; 1935, c. 226; 1941, c. 118, s. 1; 1951, c. 443;1953, c. 1109; 1957, c. 988, s. 2; 1965, c. 1008, s. 1; 1973, c. 1262, ss. 28,86; 1977, c. 771, s. 4; 1987, c. 827, s. 91; 1989, c. 727, s. 54; 1993, c. 539,s. 829; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2001‑487, s. 38(e); 2003‑284,s. 35.1(a).)