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Show 621 Water-Resource Activities Other Than Project Development The preceding part of the summary has dealt primarily with development, construction, and operation of water-resource projects. But other governmental functions significantly re- lated to water resources are performed in the management of federal public lands, in activities aiding state and private de- velopment, and in the regulation of nonfederal development. Federal Public Lands.-Comprising more than 400,000,000 acres in the continental United States, federal lands are admin- istered by a number of agencies^-the Forest Service and the Soil Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture; the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of the Interior; and also in the latter Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs with respect to large areas included in Indian reservations.688 We shall summarize here the principal stat- utes recognizing the relationship between land-use practices and water resources, including particularly the role of land use in controlling the quantity and quality of the water in down- stream areas. Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act.-All federal lands may be developed under this statute authoriz- ing measures to prevent soil erosion, including but not limited to, engineering operations, methods of cultivation, growing of vegetation, and changes in the use of land-to further the pur- poses of preserving natural resources, controlling floods, pre- venting the impairment of reservoirs, maintaining the navi- gability of rivers and harbors, protecting public health, public lands, and relieving unemployment.689 These measures are carried out by the Secretary of the In- terior with respect to soil and moisture-conservation opera- 488 See supra, pp. 351-382. See also Report of the Commission on Obgani- ZATION OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT, App. L, p. 184 (January 1949). 889 Act of April 27, 1985, §§ 1, 2, 49 Stat. 163, 16 U. S. C. 590a, 590b. See also supra, pp. 366-372. |