Section 9-2-3 Powers and Duties as to State Parks and Parkways, Etc.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, for the purpose of establishing, developing and maintaining state parks and parkways, may acquire land by donation, purchase, condemnation or lease and for these purposes may use such funds as may be available to it and not otherwise obligated and may enter into agreements with the federal government or other agencies for acquiring by lease, purchase or otherwise such lands as in its judgment are desirable for state parks or parkways. As to the purchase of lands, such agreements may provide for a division of the payments over a period of years, in which case the payments may be secured by mortgage; provided, that no liability shall attach to the State of Alabama or any of its departments, boards, bureaus or commissions or any member or official thereof if the security specifically given in any such mortgage is insufficient to pay said mortgage at a forced sale or otherwise. When lands are acquired or leased under this section, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is authorized to make expenditures from any funds not otherwise obligated for the management, development and utilization of such areas, to sell or otherwise dispose of products from such lands, to have sole charge of all state parks and parkways and to have authority to make such rules and regulations for the management, administration, occupancy and use of said state parks and parkways and all property and things of whatsoever nature therein or thereon as it shall find necessary. All revenues derived from lands now or later acquired under the provisions of this section, when said lands are owned or acquired under agreement with the federal government, shall be segregated for the use of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in the utilization, management, development and use of such lands until all obligations incurred under such agreement have been paid in full and, thereafter, 50 percent of all net profits accruing from the administration of such lands owned or acquired under agreement with the federal government shall be paid into the school fund of the counties in which such lands are located and obligations for the acquisition of the land incurred by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources pursuant to the terms of any agreement with the federal government shall be paid solely and exclusively from revenues derived from such lands or from such other funds as may be available to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and not otherwise obligated, and shall not impose any liability upon the general credit and taxing power of the state. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources shall have full power and authority to sell, exchange or lease lands under its jurisdiction when in its judgment it is advantageous to the state to do so in the orderly development and management of state parks and parkways; provided, however, that said sale, lease or exchange shall not be contrary to the terms of any contract which it has entered into. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is authorized to make such rules and regulations for the development, maintenance, management and operation of park or parkway enterprises or projects entered upon by the state, counties and municipalities with a view to securing loans or other financial cooperation from any agency of the federal government so as to enable the state, counties and municipalities to obtain such loans or other financial cooperation, and is further authorized to enter into such agreements or commitments as may be required in securing for the state such loans or other financial cooperation and to act in all particulars in behalf of the state in securing for the state or any of its departments, institutions or agencies such loans or other financial cooperation; provided, that such agreements or commitments shall not impose any liability upon the general credit and taxing power of the state beyond that authorized by law. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources may employ such officers, assistants and employees as may be necessary and, as to persons employed wholly or in part in carrying out the provisions of cooperative agreements with the federal government or other agencies, for such compensations heretofore or hereafter paid, may use such contributions or receipts as may be derived from the United States or from any private or philanthropic source. Where any of the lands of the state or of any department, institution or agency of the state are in scattered or noncontiguous tracts, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is authorized, subject to the approval of the Governor, to exchange such tracts for others of equal value, privately or publicly owned, to the end that the lands of the state or of any of its departments, institutions or agencies may be better consolidated for economy and efficiency in administration, protection and use and to perform such other duties as may be imposed upon it by law and to do such other things as may be necessary to give full effect to this section and this title.