The Occupancy Permits Act was passed on March 4, 1915, by the

63rd United States Congress The 63rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1913, t ...

. It allowed the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...

to issue to cabin permits at "reasonable rates" to individuals who had had their property taken through

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

. Permits could be issued for periods of up to 30 years. Individuals were encouraged to build homes within the boundaries of national parks in order to widen the Forest Services' work in recreational management.

Purpose

Rental rates were already low, but this measure was meant to give the federal government further insurance protection with the "Forest Register" which oversaw rates to allow lower rents by lengthening the amount of time contracted to residents. It affected private cabins on lands that had, at some point, been designated public. It established reasonable rental rates, with "reasonable" meaning rates that were not too low, allowing those who had lived on the land for years who had had their property taken through eminent domain to continue to reside there for their remaining years.

References

1915 in American law United States federal legislation 63rd United States Congress {{US-law-stub