70-5-102 - Acquisition of property Authority of agency. - Tennessee Statutes

70-5-102. Acquisition of property Authority of agency.

(a)  The wildlife resources agency is authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase, gift, lease or otherwise, and to hold title to, in the name of the state of Tennessee, lands and waters to be known as the state wildlife preserves, and also is authorized to execute on behalf of the state valid and binding contracts, for the purchase, sale and lease of such wildlife preserves as are deemed for the best interest of the state in establishing a system of state wildlife preserves.

(b)  The agency is hereby expressly authorized to pay out of the wildlife resources fund the pro rata part of any current real property taxes due and owing on any real property that the commission may acquire by purchase or otherwise for the calendar year in which such property may be acquired.

(c)  The agency shall not construct or authorize the construction of dikes, dams, levees, or other artificial structures on preserve property in such a way as to cause flooding on adjacent private lands or to restrict natural drainage of private lands through such preserves. Affected landowners may seek injunctive relief to enforce these provisions and prevent harm to their properties.

(d)  The agency, in acquiring property adjacent to Reelfoot Lake and the state lands surrounding it, may proceed to acquire such lands under the provisions of title 29, chapter 17, parts 7 and 8, in order to expedite the acquisition of the title to such lands.

[Acts 1937, ch. 252, § 2; impl. am. Acts 1949, ch. 50, § 10; C. Supp. 1950, § 5178.13 (Williams, § 5176.6); Acts 1959, ch. 126, § 3; impl. am. Acts 1974, ch. 481, § 9; 1974, ch. 481, § 21; modified; 1975, ch. 213, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 51-602; Acts 1985, ch. 350, § 5.]