Chap. 399.-——An ACT to amend the Code of Virginia by adding thereto a new
chapter, numbered 126-a, and nine new Code sections, 3165-a, 3165-b, 3165-c,
3165-d, 3165-e, 3165-f, 3165-g, 3165-h and 3165-i, providing for the creation
of forest, game, fish and recreation reserves; providing for their care;
deferring the payment of taxes thereon; providing for the accrual of such
taxes; making all taxes assessed against such area, liens thereon; prescribing
the duties of purchasers of the timber; the duties of the department of
conservation and development, and the various commissions in that department,
and the commission of game and inland fisheries, and their officers and em-
ployees; authorizing boards of supervisors to accept the provisions of this
act, and providing for all things necessary or incident to the establishment of
such forest, game, fish and recreation reserves. [H B 229]

Approved March 25, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
Code of Virginia be amended by adding thereto a new chapter, num-
bered one hundred and twenty-six-a, and nine new sections, numbered
thirty-one hundred and sixty-five-a to thirty-one hundred and sixty-
five-i, inclusive, reading as follows:

Section 3165-a. Subject to the approval hereinafter provided for,
the owner of any forest land, or land suited to the growth of timber
desiring to do so may offer the same subject to pasturage, to the de-
partment of conservation and development as a forest, game, fish and
recreation reserve, to be dealt with in accordance with the provisions
of this chapter.

Section 3165-b. Whenever such land is tendered the department
of conservation and development as a forest, game, fish and recreation
reserve, it shall be the duty of the State forester or his assistant, and
the commission of game and inland fisheries, or its delegated employee,
to examine same and report to the commission on conservation and
development, and the commission of game and inland fisheries whether
or not said land shall be accepted as a forest, game, fish and recreation
reserve in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Section 3165-c. In the event that such land is accepted as a forest,
game, fish and recreation reserve, the owner of said land shall deliver
to the commission on conservation and development, a written lease
thereof, under seal, leasing said land to the commission until such time
as the timber thereon shall become suitable for marketing as lumber,
and to the commission of game and inland fisheries, a written lease
thereof, under seal, leasing the exclusive hunting, fishing and recrea-
tion rights or privileges on said land, so long as it may remain in said
reserve. Thereafter it shall be the duty of the State forester and his
employees to aid in the development and the increase of the forest re-
sources of such land, and it shall be the duty of all employees of the
several divisions in the department on conservation and development
to protect, so far as it is possible, said forest, game, fish and recreation
reserve from fires and trespasses, and the duty of the commission of
game and inland fisheries to propagate and protect game and fish, and
promote recreation therein, and issue rules and regulations therefor.
From the time said land is leased as authorized by this section, the
State shall possess exclusive hunting, fishing and recreational rights
on the land included in such leases; except that owners of land entered
in said reserve, their families and tenants, actually residing on said
land shall be allowed, without cost to themselves, such rights and privi-
leges, as the commission of game and inland fisheries is herein author-
ized to sell; however, such rights and privileges shall be limited to the
land of said owner, and in the case of tenants, to land on which they
actually reside.

Section 3165-d. The commission of game and inland fisheries 1s
authorized to sell hunting, fishing and limited recreational privileges
on any forest, game, fish and recreational reserve created under the
provisions of this act for an annual fee of not less than five dollars
nor more than fifteen dollars per person, except that non-residents of
the State of Virginia shall be charged not less than ten dollars, nor
more than fifteen dollars for these privileges, and also the commission
of game and inland fisheries may in its discretion issue a limited recrea-
tion privilege, which shall not entitle the purchaser thereof to hunting
or fishing privileges, and charge therefor, whatever fee it may deem
proper, the above charges are to be in addition to the present hunting
and fishing licenses prescribed by law. The license issued for said fee
shall entitle the holder thereof to hunt and fish, except in the case of
holders of limited recreation privilege, on all forest, fish and recreation
reserves created under the provisions of this chapter during the regu-
lar hunting and fishing seasons prescribed by law and to camp thereon
at any time, all under such rules and regulations as the commission of
game and inland fisheries may prescribe. The commission of game and
inland fisheries may in its discretion at any time close any area in said
preserve against all hunting, fishing and recreation, for the purpose of
establishing sanctuaries thereon.

Section 3165-e. All funds accrued from the sale of hunting, fish-
ing and camping, and limited recreation privileges on State forest,
game, fish and recreation reserves shall be paid into a fund in the State
treasury to be designated as the forest, game, fish and recreation re-
serve fund, and used for the payment of taxes on the real estate em-
braced in such areas hereinafter provided, and for the benefit and ad-
ministration thereof, and for the purchase of State owned forest dem-
onstration, and game and fish propagation and recreation areas. It
shall be the duty of the commission on game and inland fisheries to
protect and propagate fish and game in said forest, game, fish and
recreation areas and to prevent trespass and violations of the game and
fish laws. It shall be the duty of the game and forest wardens to ex-
tinguish and prevent fires and to protect the area from timber or other
pillage and trespass, but the State shall not be liable for the failure of
any of its officers or employees to discharge the duties imposed upon
them by law, nor shall the Commonwealth be liable for any injury or
destruction of the timber growing on such area. When any area has
been accepted by the Commonwealth as a forest, game, fish and recrea-
tion reserve, the buildings, improvements and tillable land therein, are
to be assessed separate from the forest land and land suited to the
growth of timber, thereafter on forest land or land suited to the growth
of timber, no tax or local levies thereon shall be paid, unless owner
desires so to do, or the collection thereof be enforced, but the taxes
or levies imposed thereon shall be entered by the county clerk in a
book specially kept for the purpose, designated as the “forest, game,
fish and recreation reserve deferred tax book,” each year, and the said
accrued taxes shall carry an annual interest rate of six per centum per
annum and shall be a lien upon the land or lands embraced in said re-
serve, and shall be payable, if not sooner paid, at such time as the tim-
ber on said reserve is marketed, or is matured for marketing, which
maturity shall be determined by the sole judgment of the State for-
ester or his delegated employee; however, in no event shall any taxes
be deferred for a period longer than forty years.

Any purchaser of timber on said reserve shall be charged with notice
of all taxes that have accrued against said land, and shall be personally
required to see to the payment of all such taxes before any part of the
timber on such area is removed therefrom. So far as it is possible,
the funds derived from sale of hunting, fishing, and recreational priv-
ileges herein provided for shall be used in advancing to the several
counties the taxes or levies which have accrued on such forest, game,
fish and recreation reserves, and for the purposes set forth in section
thirty-one hundred and sixty-five-e. When and as said liens are paid
to the county by the Commonwealth, the county’s lien for the taxes
paid shall pass to and become the property of the Commonwealth and
thereafter the amount thereof so paid, with accrued interest thereon,
shall be paid to the Commonwealth as a prerequisite to the removal of
any timber from said area as provided in this section. Neither this
section nor any portion of this act shall prevent any owner of land
entered in this reserve from paying taxes thereon at any time, nor will
such payment relieve such owner from any other provisions of this act.

Section 3165-f. Any person leasing his land for a forest, game, fish
and recreation reserve may withdraw the same from such area at any
time after three months’ notice to the commission on conservation and
development of his intention to do so, but as a prerequisite to withdraw
therefrom, he shall pay to the county or to the Commonwealth, as the
case may be, the amount of all tax liens thereon, together with accrued
interest, at the rate of six per centum per annum from the first of De-
cember of the year in which such taxes were assessed or were levied.
However, in the event of such withdrawal during the first ten years
of entry, the State may retain its lease of the hunting, fishing and recre-
ation rights and privileges for a term of five years from expiration of
withdrawal notice, unless a fee of not less than five cents nor more
than fifteen cents per acre for land withdrawn be paid to the State, in
which event the State will surrender such rights and privileges at the
expiration of notice period. The amount of this fee within the limits
above named, is to be determined by the commission of game and inland
fisheries.

Section 3165-g. The provisions of this chapter shall not become op-
erative in any county, except as hereinafter provided, unless and until,
on petition of the board of supervisors of the county, the circuit court,
or the judge thereof in vacation, in its or his discretion, by order en-
tered of record, require the judges of election on the day fixed in said
order, not less than sixty days from the date of such order, to open a
poll and take a sense of the qualified voters of the county on the ques-
tion whether the provisions of this chapter shall be accepted by said
county or not. In the calling and holding of said election, the same
procedure shall be followed as is provided in section twenty-seven hun-
dred and thirty-nine of the Code, except that the tickets or ballots
shall have written or printed thereon the words “for the acceptance
| county of chapter one hundred and twenty-six-a
of the Code of Virginia, relating to the creation of forests, game, fish
and recreational reserves and postponing the payment of all taxes there-
on, and against the acceptance of chapter one hundred and twenty-
six-a of the Code of Virginia, relating to the creation of forests, game,
fish and recreational reserves and postponing the payment of all taxes
thereon.” If it shall appear by the report of the commissioners of
election that a majority of qualified voters of the county voting on the
question are in favor of accepting the provisions of this chapter, the
circuit court, at its next term, shall enter of record such fact and there-
after the provisions of this chapter shall be in full force and effect
in such county. Copies of the court order shall be forwarded to the
commission on conservation and development, the commission of game
and inland fisheries, and the State forester. A county once accepting
the provisions of this chapter shall not be permitted to withdraw its
acceptance as to land which has been leased prior thereto to the com-
mission on conservation and development, in accordance with the pro-
visions of this chapter, but the Commonwealth shall have the right at
any time, acting through the general assembly, to repeal the provisions
of this chapter or to abolish any reserve or reserves created under the
provisions thereof. In the event that the reserve is abolished by act
of general assembly after acceptance by any county, tax liens accruing
on any real estate entered in said reserve shall not be enforced against
the same for a period of five years from the date such reserve was
abolished, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. The Com-
monwealth shall have the right at any time on three months’ notice to
the owner thereof, to eliminate from said reserve any lands entered
thereon when, in the opinion of the State forester and commission of
game and inland fisheries, such land is deemed not suited for the pur-
poses for which the reserve is created.

Section 3165-h. Should the boards of supervisors of any county
fail to adopt the provisions of this chapter, as set forth in the preceding
section, then the owners of any land in said county, suited to entry in
said reserve may enter same in the reserve, in which event said lands
shall not be subject to the provisions of this act providing for the assess-
ments thereof and the deferment of taxes, and in lieu thereof, each of
said owners shall receive annually, one-half of such a sum as may result
from dividing the total receipts from the sale of all hunting, fishing,
and recreation privileges on said reserve, by the total number of acres
of land entered in said reserve, and multiplying the same by the number
of acres owned by said owner; and the State is to retain the other halt
of such sum, the same to be used for the purposes set forth in section
thirty-one hundred and sixty-five-e. The provisions of this section are
also to apply to all persons entering lands in the reserve and paying
taxes annually thereon as at present. The commission of game and
inland fisheries is also authorized under this section and subject to
the provisions thereof, to lease the hunting, fishing, and recreation
rights and privileges on any lands not eligible to entry under section
thirty-one hundred and sixty-five-a.

Section 3165-i. When tax liens acquired under the provisions of
this act are owned by the State, the State forester is authorized, and
when such liens are owned by the counties, the State forester together
with the board of supervisors are authorized to issue permits to cut
and remove portions of timber from lands in said reserve, when in
their opinion a sufficient amount of the deferred taxes have been paid,
as would justify the release of said portions of timber, without jeop-
ardizing the interests of the State or county. Such cutting or removal
of timber to be done under the rules and regulations of the forestry
department. The State forester is authorized, to promulgate and
enforce rules and regulations pertaining to the administration of fores-
try on said reserve; and the commission of game and inland fisheries
is authorized to issue, promulgate and enforce rules and regulations per-
taining to hunting, fishing and recreation on said reserve.