(a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may accept gifts, donations or contributions of land suitable for forestry or park purposes and enter into cooperative agreements with the federal government, its agents or departments, for acquiring, by lease, purchase or otherwise, such lands as in the judgment of said commissioner are desirable for state forests or state parks and at such price as may be mutually agreed upon. Said commissioner may cooperate with the federal government, its agents or departments in working out a mutually satisfactory plan defining forest areas within the state which may be most effectively and economically administered by the state.

(b) When lands are acquired or leased under this section, said commissioner is authorized to make expenditures, from any funds not designated for any other purpose, for their protection from fire and for the management, development and utilization of such areas; to sell or otherwise dispose of products from such lands; and to make such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(c) All receipts derived from lands to be acquired from the federal government under the provisions of this section shall be deposited in the General Fund as provided in § 23-15.

(d) Said commissioner may prepare standards of forest administration development and management to insure timber production and watershed protection, and may furnish the federal government or any of its departments with such annual, periodic or special reports as may be required respecting the operations of the state under any cooperative agreement.