7 U.S.C. § 2201: Establishment of Department

There shall be at the seat of government a Department of Agriculture, the general design and duties of which shall be to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture, rural development, aquaculture, and human nutrition, in the most general and comprehensive sense of those terms, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of March 20, 1922 , 42 Stat. 465 , as amended ( 16 U.S.C. 485 , 486), with respect to exchanges of non-Federal lands for national forest lands or timber. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of February 2, 1922 ( 42 Stat. 362 ), with respect to exchanges of lands in private ownership within or within six miles of the Deschutes National Forest for national forest lands, or for timber from any national forest, in the State of Oregon. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of June 7, 1924 ( 43 Stat. 643 ), except section 2 thereof, with respect to exchanges of privately owned lands for national forest timber in New Mexico. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of January 12, 1925 ( 43 Stat. 739 ), except section 2 thereof, with respect to exchanges of privately owned lands for national forest timber in New Mexico. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of April 21, 1926 ( 44 Stat. 303 ), except section 2 thereof, with respect to exchanges of privately owned lands for national forest lands or timber in New Mexico and Arizona. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under section 2 of the Act of May 26, 1926 ( 44 Stat. 655 ; 16 U.S.C. 38 ), with respect to exchanges of lands held in private or State ownership for national forest lands or timber in Montana. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of June 15, 1926 ( 44 Stat. 746 ), with respect to exchanges of State lands for national forest lands in New Mexico. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of December 7, 1942 ( 56 Stat. 1042 ), with respect to exchange transactions in which lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture are exchanged for State lands in Minnesota which are to be under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture after their acquisition by the United States. The function of the Secretary of the Interior (originally vested in the Commissioner of the General Land Office) under section 6 of the Act of April 28, 1930 ( 46 Stat. 257 ; 43 U.S.C. 872 ), with respect to execution of quitclaim deeds for lands conveyed to the United States in connection with exchange transactions involving lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under section 2(b) of the Joint Resolution of August 8, 1947 ( 61 Stat. 921 ), with respect to appraisals and sales of certain lands within the Tongass National Forest. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under section 10 of the Act of March 1, 1911 ( 36 Stat. 962 ; 16 U.S.C. 519 ), with respect to sales of small tracts of acquired national forest lands found chiefly valuable for agriculture. The functions of the Secretary of the Interior under section 402 of Reorganization Plan Numbered 3 of 1946 ( 60 Stat. 1099 ), section 3 of the Act of September 1, 1949 ( 63 Stat. 683 ; 30 U.S.C. 192c ), the Act of June 30, 1950 ( 64 Stat. 311 ; 16 U.S.C. 508b ), section 3 of the Act of June 28, 1952 ( 66 Stat. 285 ), or otherwise, with respect to the use and disposal from lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture of those mineral materials which the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to dispose of from other lands under his jurisdiction under the Act of July 31, 1947 ( 61 Stat. 681 ), as amended by the Act of July 23, 1955 ( 69 Stat. 367 ; 30 U.S.C. 601 and the following). Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to determine or adjudicate the validity or invalidity of any mining claim or part thereof. Nothing in subsection (1) of section 1 hereof shall be construed to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to dispose of coal, phosphate, sodium, potassium, oil, oil shale, gas, or sulfur, or to dispose of any minerals which would be subject to disposal under the mining laws if said laws were applicable to the lands in which the minerals are situated. Upon approval by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to the provisions of this Act of any exchange or sale, respectively, of national forest lands under the provisions of law referred to in subsections (a), (b), (e), (f), (g), and (j) of section 1, hereof, the Secretary of the Interior, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, shall issue the patent therefor. All conveyances under the Act referred to in subsection (h) of section 1 hereof of national forest lands reserved from the public domain shall, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture, be made by the Secretary of the Interior.”