16 USC § 482k - Patents affecting forest lands

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t16/s482k"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "16 USC § 482k - Patents affecting forest lands"
title_number: 16
title_name: "CONSERVATION"
section_number: "482k"
section_name: "Patents affecting forest lands"
chapter_number: 2
chapter_name: "NATIONAL FORESTS"
subchapter_number: "I"
subchapter_name: "ESTABLISHMENT AND ADMINISTRATION"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(June 10, 1949, ch. 190, § 2, 63 Stat. 168.)"
---


# § 482k. Patents affecting forest lands

June 10, 1949

On and after , all patents issued under the United States mining laws affecting lands within the above-described area shall convey title to the mineral deposits within the claim, together with the right to cut and remove so much of the mature timber therefrom as may be needed in extracting and removing and beneficiation of the mineral deposits, if the timber is cut under sound principles of forest management as defined by the national-forest rules and regulations, but each patent shall reserve to the United States all title in or to the surface of the lands and products thereof, and no use of the surface of the claim or the resources therefrom not reasonably required for carrying on mining or prospecting shall be allowed except under the rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture.

---

**Source Credit**: (June 10, 1949, ch. 190, § 2, 63 Stat. 168.)