R. C. Buch v. Rogers C. B. Morton, as Secretary of the Interior

Appellee’s mining claim to a parcel of public domain land in San Bernardino County, California, was held invalid by the Secretary of Interior on the ground that when the claim was filed the land had been classified for disposition under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act of 1954, 43 U.S.C. §§ 869 to 869-4 (1964), and, in consequence, was not open to entry or location under the mining laws. R. C. Buch, 75 I.D. 140 (1968).

Appellee filed suit in the district court to review and set aside the Secretary’s decision. The district court granted summary judgment in his favor. Buch v. Hiekel, 298 F.Supp. 381 (C.D.Cal. 1969). The Secretary appeals. We reverse.

The facts are detailed in the reported decisions of the Secretary and the district court. The following summary will suffice for review.

On August 12, 1964, the land office manager of the Riverside District Land Office of the Bureau of Land Management filed a statement in the case file that described the land in question and stated that it was “classified as proper for lease and/or sale under the provisions of the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, for recreational purposes.” The statement was filed without public or other…