An Act to provide for the protection of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, against damage from fire and drought
PL 84-810 (H.R.9742), enacted 07/26/1956

668 
Saparability. 
PUBLIC LAW 810-JULY 26, 1956 
[ T O S T A T . 
SEC. 203. (a) If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof 
to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the 
Act, and the application of such provisions to other persons or circum-
stances, shall not be affected thereby. 
(b) The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby expressly 
reserved. 
Approved July 26, 1956. 
July 26. 1956 
[H. R. 9742] 
Okefenokee Na-
t i o n a l 
W i l d l i f e 
Rofuge, Ga. 
Public Law 810 
CHAPTER 742 
AN ACT 
To provide for the protection of the Olcefenoltee National Wildlife Refuge, 
Georgia, against damage from fire and drought. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That (a) for the 
purpose of protecting the natural features and the very substantial 
public values represented in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Eefuge, 
Georgia, from disastrous fires such as those which swept over 80 per 
centum of the area between October 1954 and June 1955, and for the 
purpose of safeguarding the forest resources on more than four hun-
dred thousand acres of adjoining lands recently damaged by wildfires 
originating in or sustained by the desiccated peat deposits in the Okefe-
nokee Swamp, the Secretary of the Interior shall construct a contin-
uous perimeter road around the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 
with additional fire access roads (leading from such perimeter road) 
in and around such refuge; and for the purpose of protecting such 
refuge against damage from drought he shall construct a sill and dike 
in the Suwanee River near the point where the river leaves the refuge 
together with additional sills in the Old Saint Marys River Canal and 
at such other points within the refuge as he may determine to be neces-
sary to prevent drainage of the Okefenokee Swamp during periods 
of drought such as those which occurred in 1953-1955 and other years. 
(b) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to con-
duct such surveys as he deems necessary to provide more adequate pro-
tection for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, through the de-
velopment and construction of perimeter and fire access roads and the 
installation of water controls as described in subsection (a), against 
the damaging effects of fire and drought. 
(c) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to co-
operate with State and local authorities in protecting public and pri-
vate lands from wildfires originating in or sustained by the Oke-
fenokee National Wildlife Reiuge by integrating the perimeter road 
and fire access roads with existing woods roads in such manner as he 
determines will best carry out the purpose of this Act. 
Appiopriationa. 
SEC. 2. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act (1) the sum of $453,500 for the construction of a continuous 
perimeter road around the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and 
approximately one hundred and sixty-two miles of fire access roads, 
together with necessary bridges and culverts, in and around such 
reiuge, and (2) the sum of $275,000 for the construction of a sill and 
dike in the Suwanee River and sills at other appropriate points in the 
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. 
Approved July 26, 1956. 
S u r v e y s 
f o r 
roads, e t c