compensation or gratuity.

1. In order to provide for the acquisition of lands outside of the Adirondack park and the Catskill park as defined by subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 9-0101, which are adapted for reforestation and the establishment and maintenance thereon of forests for watershed protection, the production of timber and other forest products, and for recreation and kindred purposes, the department may acquire in the name of the state, by gift, purchase or appropriation, reforestation areas which shall consist respectively of not less than five hundred acres of contiguous lands, which shall be forever devoted to the planting, growth and harvesting of such trees as shall be deemed by the commissioner best suited for the lands to be reforested. Lands divided only by highway, railroad, transmission line, telephone line, telegraph line, pipe line or other rights of way or only by canals or streams shall be deemed to be contiguous within the meaning of this section. Plantations and other forests thereon shall be established, managed and protected under his supervision pursuant to such provisions of law as shall from time to time be established or to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by him.

2. No officer or any other person acting for the department in securing options for the purchase of lands acquired or to be acquired under provisions of this title 5 shall directly or indirectly receive or accept from a vendor of lands acquired or to be acquired by the state as herein provided any commission, compensation or gratuity, and no town or county officer shall receive any compensation for services rendered to the department in connection with such acquisition.