REORGANIZATION OF FEDERAL AGENCIES 155 



Bureau of Reclamation: The purpose of the Bureau of 

 Reclamation as stated by the Reclamation Act 26 is to en- 

 gage in the investigation, construction and operation of 

 irrigation projects in the seventeen arid and semi-arid states 

 of the West. A development unforeseen at the time the 

 Bureau was established was the possible use of the reser- 

 voirs for recreation. To this end the aid of both the federal 

 Bureau of Fisheries and the state departments of conserva- 

 tion has been enlisted to stock these reservoirs with game 

 fish. On a number of the larger reclamation projects the 

 Bureau has permitted the use of boats and other accommo- 

 dations for recreational purposes. 



The funds for reclamation come largely from the sale of 

 public lands irrigated, which are turned back into a revolv- 

 ing fund, from the repayment on construction costs by the 

 water users, and more recently from oil leases and other 

 mineral operations. It seems to have been the original in- 

 tention to construct these irrigation projects on public lands 

 as an aid in promoting their settlement, but with the rapid 

 development of the West projects have been undertaken 

 where the greater part of the surrounding land is already 

 privately owned. 



The Bureau of Reclamation, although not directly charged 

 with wild-life conservation, cooperates with state and federal 

 officials in the protection of fish and game within its reser- 

 vations. The President has by a series of executive orders 

 set aside most of the reservoir areas as wild life refuges. 

 The orders usually stated that the use of the reservation as 

 a wild life refuge shall be considered secondary to the pri- 

 mary reason for which the waters have been impounded, 

 that is, reclamation. 



The jurisdiction of the states over wild life on those areas 

 tinder the Bureau's control which have not been made wild 



26 Act of June 17, 1902, Ch. 1093, 32 Stat. 388. 



