N.Y. ENV Law § 9-0501

§ 9-0501. Power to acquire reforestation areas; prohibition against\n compensation or gratuity.\n 1. In order to provide for the acquisition of lands outside of the\nAdirondack park and the Catskill park as defined by subdivisions 1 and 2\nof section 9-0101, which are adapted for reforestation and the\nestablishment and maintenance thereon of forests for watershed\nprotection, the production of timber and other forest products, and for\nrecreation and kindred purposes, the department may acquire in the name\nof the state, by gift, purchase or appropriation, reforestation areas\nwhich shall consist respectively of not less than five hundred acres of\ncontiguous lands, which shall be forever devoted to the planting, growth\nand harvesting of such trees as shall be deemed by the commissioner best\nsuited for the lands to be reforested. Lands divided only by highway,\nrailroad, transmission line, telephone line, telegraph line, pipe line\nor other rights of way or only by canals or streams shall be deemed to\nbe contiguous within the meaning of this section. Plantations and other\nforests thereon shall be established, managed and protected under his\nsupervision pursuant to such provisions of law as shall from time to\ntime be established or to such rules and regulations as may be\nprescribed by him.\n 2. No officer or any other person acting for the department in\nsecuring options for the purchase of lands acquired or to be acquired\nunder provisions of this title 5 shall directly or indirectly receive or\naccept from a vendor of lands acquired or to be acquired by the state as\nherein provided any commission, compensation or gratuity, and no town or\ncounty officer shall receive any compensation for services rendered to\nthe department in connection with such acquisition.\n