25 U.S.C. § 407
Section 407 · Sale of timber on unallotted lands
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 22 court decisions — leading case White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker (1980)
Most recently applied in 107 Fed. Cl. 442 - Evans v. United States (October 2012)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, the timber on unallotted trust land in Indian reservations or on other land held in trust for tribes may be sold in accordance with the principles of sustained-yield management or to convert the land to a more desirable use. After deduction, if any, for administrative expenses under section 413 of this title, the proceeds of the sale shall be used—
(1) as determined by the governing bodies of the tribes concerned and approved by the Secretary, or
(2) in the absence of such a governing body, as determined by the Secretary for the tribe concerned.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1988—Pub. L. 100–580 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: “The timber on unallotted lands of any Indian reservation may be sold in accordance with the principles of sustained yield, or in order to convert the land to a more desirable use, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the proceeds from such sales, after deductions for administrative expenses pursuant to section 413 of this title, shall be used for the benefit of the Indians who are members of the tribe or tribes concerned in such manner as he may direct.”
1964—Pub. L. 88–301 substituted “timber” for “mature living and dead and down timber”, provided for sale of timber in accordance with principles of sustained yield or in order to convert the land to a more desirable use, provided for deductions for administrative expenses from proceeds of sales, made the Indians who were tribal members the beneficiaries instead of the Indians of the reservation, and struck out proviso which made section inapplicable to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Cross References
Klamath Tribe timber sales, see section 564x of this title.