Public Law 87–706

The period provided in subsection (d), section 9, of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, as amended (43 U.S.C. 485h), for repayment of the construction cost properly chargeable to any block of lands and assigned to be repaid by irrigators, may be extended to fifty year, exclusive of any development period, from the time water is first delivered to that block or to as near that number of years as is consistent with the adoption and operation of a variable repayment plan as is provided therein. Costs allocated to irrigation in excess of the amount determined by the Secretary to be within the ability of the irrigators to repay, within the repayment period or periods herein specified, shall be returned to the reclamation fund within such period or periods from revenues derived by the Secretary of the Interior from the disposition of power from the McNary project power facilities.

Any lands in the upper division of the Baker project, Oregon, which are held in private ownership by a person whose holdings exceed the equivalent of one hundred and twenty acres of class 1 land shall, to the extent they exceed that acreage, be deemed excess lands. No water shall be furnished to such excess lands from, through, or by means of project works unless (1) the owner’s total holdings do not exceed one hundred and sixty irrigable acres or (2) said owner shall have executed a valid recordable contract with respect to the excess in like manner as provided in the third sentence of section 46 of the Act of May 25, 1926 (44 Stat. 636, 649, 43 U.S.C. 423e). In computing “the equivalent of one hundred and twenty acres of class 1 land” under the first sentence of this section, each acre of class 2 land shall be counted as seventy-five one-hundredths of an acre, each acre of class 3 land shall be counted as fifty-five one-hundredths of an acre, and each acre of class 4 land shall be counted as thirty-eight one-hundredths of an acre.

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in connection with the upper division of the Baker project, to construct minimum basic public recreation facilities and to arrange for the operation and maintenance of the same by an appropriate State, or local agency or organization. The cost of constructing such facilities shall be non-reimbursable and nonreturnable under the reclamation laws.

The Secretary may make such reasonable provision in the works authorized by this Act as he finds to be required for the conservation and development of fish and wildlife in accordance with the provisions of the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended;

60 Stat. 1080.

16 U.S.C. 661–666c, inclusive), and the portion of the construction costs allocated to these purposes and to flood control, together with an appropriate share of the operation, maintenance, and replacement costs therefor, shall he nonreimbursable and nonreturnable. Before the works are transferred to an irrigation water user’s organization for care, operation, and maintenance, the organization shall have agreed to operate them in a manner satisfactory to the Secret ary of the Interior with respect to achieving the fish and wildlife benefits, and to return the works to the United States for care, operation, and maintenance in the event of failure to comply with the requirements to achieve such benefits.

The works authorized in this Act shall be operated for flood control in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Army pursuant to section 7 of the Flood Control Act approved September 22, 1944 (58 Stat. 887).

33 USC 709.

Appropriation.