16 U.S.C. § 835c : US Code - Section 835C: Duties of Secretary of the Interior

Search 16 U.S.C. § 835c : US Code - Section 835C: Duties of Secretary of the Interior

(a) Administer, sell, and exchange lands, dedicate portions for
public purposes, etc.
For the purposes of assisting in the permanent settlement of farm
families, protecting project land, and facilitating project
development, the Secretary is authorized to administer public lands
of the United States in the project area and lands acquired under
this section; to sell, exchange, or lease such lands; to dedicate
portions of such lands for public purposes in keeping with sound
project development; to acquire in the name of the United States,
at prices satisfactory to him, such lands or interests in lands,
within or adjacent to the project area, as he deems appropriate for
the protection, development, or improvement of the project; and to
accept donations of real and personal property for the purposes of
this Act. Any moneys realized on account of donations for purposes
of this Act shall be covered into the Treasury as trust funds.
(b) Terms of contracts; qualifications of applicants; prohibited
disposals
Contracts, exchanges, and leases made under this section shall be
on terms that, in the Secretary's judgment, are in keeping with
sound project development. In addition, land sale and exchange
contracts shall be on a basis that, in the Secretary's judgment,
provides for the return, in a reasonable period of years, of not
less than the appraised value of the land and improvements thereon.
Qualification of applicants for the purchase of land for irrigation
farming shall be prescribed as provided in section 433 of title 43,
notwithstanding any other provisions of law. No farm unit shall be
sold to, and no contract to sell a farm unit shall be entered into
with, any person, corporation, or joint-stock association which has
theretofore purchased or entered into a contract to purchase a farm
unit from the United States on the Columbia Basin project. The
foregoing provisions of this subsection shall apply only to the
sale of farm units which are suitable for settlement purposes. Farm
units which, in the opinion of the Secretary, are not suitable for
settlement purposes may be sold with a preference to resident
project landowners as supplemental units, subject to the applicable
irrigable acreage limitations on the delivery of water, but the
purchasers thereof shall not be entitled to benefits of the Act of
August 13, 1953 (67 Stat. 566) [43 U.S.C. 451 et seq.] with respect
thereto.