Executive Order 6542—Authorizing the Purchase of Land for Emergency Conservation Work

Whereas various lands have been or are being acquired by the United States for national-park or national-monument purposes in areas known as (1) Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee, (2) Shenandoah National Park Project, Virginia, (3) Mammoth Cave National Park Project, Kentucky, and (4) Colonial National Monument, Virginia; and

Whereas such lands lack adequate and proper protection from forest fires, foods and soil erosion, plant pest, and disease control by reason of the present condition of privately owned lands contiguous thereto or intermingled therewith; and

Whereas the purchase by the United States of such privately owned lands will permit work and improvements thereon that will provide protection for the aforesaid public lands from forest fires, floods and soil erosion, plant pest, and disease control and aid in the restoration of the country's depleted natural resources; and

Whereas the purchase of such lands will further provide employment for citizens of the United States who are unemployed;

Now, Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the act of Congress entitled "AN ACT For the relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work, and for other purposes", approved March 31, 1933 (Public, No. 5, 73d Cong.), the acquisition of such of the aforesaid lands, by purchase or otherwise, as are suitable and necessary for the aforesaid purposes, is hereby authorized; and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Fourth Deficiency Act, fiscal year 1933, approved June 16, 1933 (Public, No. 77, 73d Cong.), the sum of $2,325,000 is hereby allocated for the acquisition of said lands (including the costs incident to acquisition) from the appropriation made by the said Deficiency Act for carrying into effect the provisions of the said act of March 31, 1933.

The sum herein allocated for the purchase of said lands shall be transferred by the Treasury Department to the credit of the War Department and shall, upon request of the Chief of Finance, under the direction of the Director of Emergency Conservation Work, be transferred by the Treasury to the credit of the Department of the Interior; and the funds so transferred shall be withdrawn on requisition by the Director of the Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations, Department of the Interior, for the purchase of said lands and may be expended either directly by the Director of the Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, or through such other agencies, Federal or otherwise, as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, such expenditures to be made under his direction.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

The White House,
December 28, 1933.