---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 563"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "563"
heading: "Cooperation with States for fire protection on private or State forest lands upon the watersheds of navigable rivers"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/563"
units:
  - "Chapter 3 — Forests; Forest Service; Reforestation; Management"
  - "Subchapter I — General Provisions"
---

# §563. Cooperation with States for fire protection on private or State forest lands upon the watersheds of navigable rivers


The [Secretary](/usc/16/580p.md?p=3) of Agriculture is authorized, and on such conditions as he deems wise, to stipulate and agree with any [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) or group of [States](/usc/16/544.md?p=r) to cooperate in the organization and maintenance of a system of fire protection on any private or [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) [forest lands](/usc/16/544.md?p=f) within such [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) or [States](/usc/16/544.md?p=r) and situated upon the watershed of a navigable river. No such stipulation or agreement shall be made with any [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) which has not provided by law for a system of forest-fire protection. In no case shall the amount expended in any [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) exceed in any fiscal year the amount appropriated by that [State](/usc/16/590q.md?p=a) for the same purpose during the same fiscal year.


## Source credit

(Mar. 1, 1911, ch. 186, § 2, 36 Stat. 961.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Fiscal Year Transition Period of July 1, 1976, Through September 30, 1976, Deemed Fiscal Year for Purposes of Matching Requirements

Fiscal year transition period of July 1, 1976, through Sept. 30, 1976, deemed fiscal year for purposes of this section relating to matching requirements, see section 202(1) of Pub. L. 94–274, Apr. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 390, set out as a note under section 2652 of Title 7, Agriculture.