N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-871

The Department of Administration may allocate to the Department, for management as a State forest, any vacant and unappropriated lands, any marshlands or swamplands, and any other lands title to which is vested in the State or in any State agency or institution, where such lands are not being otherwise used and are not suitable for cultivation. Lands under the supervision of the Wildlife Resources Commission and designated and in use as wildlife management areas, refuges, or fishing access areas and lands used as research stations shall not be subject to the provisions of this section. The Department shall plant timber-producing trees on all lands allocated to it for that purpose by the Department of Administration. The Commissioner may contract with the appropriate prison authorities for the furnishing, upon such conditions as may be agreed upon from time to time between such prison authorities and the Commissioner, of prison labor for use in the planting, cutting, and removal of timber from State forests which are under the management of the Department.