Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 72 Part 1.djvu/662

 620

PUBLIC LAW 86-671-AUG. 18, 1968

[72 8 T A T.

appropriate for the conveyance of marketable and recordable titles to the lands. Improvement of (b) To complete any construction or improvement required to roads. bring Indian Bureau roads serving the rancherias or reservations up to adequate standards comparable to standards for similar roads of the State or subdivision thereof. The Secretary is authorized to contract with the State of California or political subdivisions thereof for the construction or improvement oi such roads and to expend under such contracts moneys appropriated by Congress for the Indian road system. When such roads are transferred to the State or local government the Secretary is authorized to convey rights-of-way for such roads, including any improvements thereon. Water s y s t e m s. (c) to install or rehabilitate such irrigation or domestic water systems as he and the Indians affected agree, within a reasonable time, should be completed by the United States. (d) To cancel all reimbursable indebtedness owing to the United States on account of unpaid construction, operation, and maintenance charges for water facilities on the reservation or rancheria. Land exchanges. (e) To exchange any lands within the rancheria or reservation that are held by the United States for the use of Indians which the Secretary and the Indians affected agree should be exchanged before the termination of the Federal trust for non-Indian lands and improvements of approximately equal value. Water rights. SEC. 4. Nothing in this Act shall abrogate any water right that exists by virtue of the laws of the United States. To the extent that the laws of the State of California are not now applicable to any water right appurtenant to any lands involved herein they shall continue to be inapplicable while the water right is in Indian ownership for a period not to exceed fifteen years after the conveyance pursuant to this Act of an unrestricted title thereto, and thereafter the applicability of such laws shall be without prejudice to the priority of any such right not theretofore based upon State law. During the time such State law is not applicable the Attorney General shall represent the Indian owner in all legal proceedings, including proceedmgs before administrative bodies, involving such water right, and in any necessary affirmative action to prevent adverse appropriation of water which would encroach upon the Indian water right. Conveyances. SEC. 5. (a) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to convey without consideration to Indians who receive conveyances of land pursuant to this Act, or to a corporation or other legal entity organized by such Indians, or to a public or nonprofit body, any federally owned property on the reservations or rancherias subject to this Act that is not needed for the administration of Indian affairs in California. (b) For the purposes of this Act, the assets of the Upper Lake Rancheria and the Kobinson Rancheria shall include the one-hundredand-sixty-acre tract set aside as a wood reserve for the Upper Lake Indians by secretarial order dated February 15, 1907. (c) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to sell the five hundred and sixty acres of land, more or less, which were withdrawn from entry, sale, or other disposition, and set aside for the Indians of Indian Ranch, Inyo County, California, by the Act of March 3, 1928 (45 Stat. 162), and to distribute the proceeds of sale among the heirs of George Hanson. Disbursements. SEC. 6. The Secretary of the Interior shall disburse to the Indians of the rancherias and reservations that are subject to this Act all funds of such Indians that are in the custody of the United States. Claims. SEC. 7. Nothing in this Act shall affect any claim filed before the Indian Claims Commission, or the right, if any, of the Indians sub-

�