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Show 541 Moreover, exercising its treaty-making powers, the United States has undeniable authority to reserve the waters of a non- navigable stream and exempt them from appropriation under state laws.260 Furthermore, after enactment of the statutes discussed above, Congress passed still other laws involving use of public lands which either purport to exercise control over the acquisition of rights to use of water, or proceed on an assumption of the exist- ence of the power to do so.261 For example, in 1897, it enacted this provision regulating the use of waters within national forests:262 All waters on such reservations may be used for domestic, mining, milling, or irrigation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein such forest reservations are situated, or under the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations established thereunder. Such is the division between federal and state power under the Constitution, and such is the situation created by statutes, summarized briefly above, that conflicting claims over rights to use of waters frequently arise in the West. We have already referred to one, for example, that involving the unresolved claim recently advanced by the United States that the Acts of 1866,1870, and 1877 did not divest it of title to or control over unappropriated waters in nonnavigable streams in the West.263 Federal Water-Resource Projects and Activities.-The importance of rights to use of water in the economy of the West is a matter of common knowledge. And Congress has pre- scribed a number of measures recognizing that importance in statutes providing for federal participation in the development, utilization, and conservation of water resources. Such pro- visions of course affect the design, construction, and operation of water-resource projects and activities. But these measures do not cover the full range of possible difficulties, as we shall see. 280 Winters v. United States, 207 U. S. 564, 577 (1908). 261 See supra, n. 171, p. 42. 262 Act of June 4,1897, § 1, 30 Stat. 11, 36,16 U. S. O. 481. 283 See supra, pp. 41-12. |