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{{Organization
|OrganizationName=Bureau of Reclamation
|OrganizationType=Executive Departments
|Mission=The Bureau of Reclamation manages, develops, and protects water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. Its mission includes providing water for agricultural, municipal, and industrial uses, and generating hydroelectric power.
|ParentOrganization=United States Department of the Interior
|CreationLegislation=Reclamation Act of 1902
|Employees=5500
|Budget=$1.5 billion (Fiscal Year 2024)
|OrganizationExecutive=Commissioner of Reclamation
|Services=Water supply; Hydroelectric power generation; Water resource management; Environmental protection
|Regulations=Reclamation Act; Boulder Canyon Project Act; Colorado River Compact; Central Valley Project Improvement Act
|HeadquartersLocation=38.89392, -77.04265
|HeadquartersAddress=1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240
|Website=https://www.usbr.gov
}}
{{redirect|USBR|the network of long-distance cycling routes|United States Bicycle Route System}}
{{Distinguish|Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement}}
{{short description|Government agency}}

{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name = Bureau of Reclamation
| agency_type = Office
| logo = USBR_logo_oct_2019.jpg
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| seal = 
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| formed = 1902
| preceding1 = 
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| jurisdiction = 
| headquarters = [[Main Interior Building]]<br>[[Washington, D.C.]]
| employees = 5,425<ref name=quickfacts>{{cite web|title=Bureau of Reclamation Quickfacts|url=http://www.usbr.gov/facts.html|work=under "TOPIC: Employees"|publisher=U.S. Bureau of Reclamation|access-date=1 October 2012|date=3 May 2012}}</ref>
| budget = $1.17&nbsp;billion<ref name=FY2013>{{cite book|title=Budget Justifications and Performance Information, Fiscal Year 2013|year=2012|publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior|pages=11|url=http://www.usbr.gov/budget/2013/FY13_Budget_Justifications.pdf}}</ref>
| chief1_name = [[M. Camille Calimlim Touton]]
| chief1_position = Commissioner
| chief2_name = (Vacant)
| chief2_position = Deputy Commissioner
| parent_agency = [[United States Department of the Interior]]
| child1_agency = 
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| website = [http://www.usbr.gov/ www.usbr.gov]
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The '''Bureau of Reclamation''', formerly the '''United States Reclamation Service''', is a [[List of United States federal agencies|federal agency]] under the [[U.S.&nbsp;Department of the Interior]], which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and operation of the diversion, delivery, and storage projects that it has built throughout the western United States for irrigation, water supply, and attendant hydroelectric power generation. It is currently the U.S.'s largest wholesaler of water, bringing water to more than 31 million people, and providing one in five Western farmers with irrigation water for 10 million acres of farmland, which produce 60% of the nation's vegetables and 25% of its fruits and nuts. The Bureau is also the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the western U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.usbr.gov/main/about/fact.html|title = Bureau of Reclamation – About Us|access-date = 2016-02-16|archive-date = 2016-02-24|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160224074309/http://www.usbr.gov/main/about/fact.html|url-status = dead}}</ref>

On June 17, 1902, in accordance with the [[Reclamation Act]], [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] Ethan Allen Hitchcock established the U.S. Reclamation Service within the [[U.S. Geological Survey]] (USGS). The new Reclamation Service studied potential water development projects in each western state with federal lands. Revenue from sale of federal lands was the initial source of the program's funding. Because [[Texas]] had no federal lands, it did not become a Reclamation state until 1906, when Congress passed a law including it in the provisions of the Reclamation Act.

== History ==
[[Image:Bureau of Reclamation regions.png|thumb|right|Bureau of Reclamation regions]]

From 1902 to 1907, Reclamation began about 30&nbsp;projects in Western states.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Page |first=Arthur W. |author-link=Arthur W. Page |date=December 1907 |title=The Real Conquest of the West: The Work of the United States REclamation Service |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XV |pages=9691–9704 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hKPvxXgBN1oC&pg=PA9691|access-date=2009-07-10 }}</ref> Then, in 1907, the Secretary of the Interior separated the Reclamation Service from the USGS and created an independent bureau within the Department of the Interior. [[Frederick Haynes Newell]] was appointed the first director of the new bureau. Beginning with the third person to take over the direction of Reclamation in 1923, David W. Davis, the title was changed from Director to Commissioner.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bureau of Reclamation |title=Reclamation History |url=https://www.usbr.gov/history/commiss.html |website=Bureau of Reclamation |access-date=13 August 2020}}</ref>

In the early years, many projects encountered problems: lands or soils included in projects were unsuitable for [[irrigation]]; land speculation sometimes resulted in poor settlement patterns; proposed repayment schedules could not be met by irrigators who had high land-preparation and facilities-construction costs; settlers were inexperienced in irrigation farming; [[Waterlogging (agriculture)|waterlogging]] of irrigable lands required expensive drainage projects; and projects were built in areas which could only grow low-value crops. In 1923 the agency was renamed the "Bureau of Reclamation".<ref>[http://www.usbr.gov/history/borhist.html The Bureau of Reclamation: A Very Brief History], Bureau of Reclamation</ref> In 1924, however, in the face of increasing settler unrest and financial woes, the "Fact Finder's Report" spotlighted major problematic issues; the Fact Finders Act in late 1924 sought to resolve some of these problems.{{citation needed|date= July 2014}}

In 1928 Congress authorized the Boulder Canyon ([[Hoover Dam]]) Project, and large appropriations began, for the first time, to flow to Reclamation from the general funds of the United States. The authorization came only after a hard-fought debate about the pros and cons of public power versus private power.{{clarify|date=December 2017}}<ref>Kleinsorge, Paul  L. (1941). The Boulder Canyon Project: Historical and Economic Aspects (Stanford: Stanford University Press).</ref>

The heyday of Reclamation construction of water facilities occurred during the [[Great Depression|Depression]] and the 35&nbsp;years after [[World War&nbsp;II]]. From 1941 to 1947, [[Civilian Public Service]] labor was used to carry on projects otherwise interrupted by the war effort. The last major authorization for construction projects occurred in the late 1960s, while a parallel evolution and development of the American environmental movement began to result in strong opposition to water development projects. Even the 1976 failure of [[Teton Dam]] as it filled for the first time did not diminish Reclamation's strong international reputation in water development circles.<ref name=teton>{{cite web|url=http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/sediment/projects/TetonRiver/TetonRiver.htm|title=Teton Dam Failure|access-date=2008-05-07}}</ref> However, this first and only failure of a major Reclamation Bureau dam led to subsequent strengthening of its dam-safety program to avoid similar problems. Even so, the failure of Teton Dam, the environmental movement, and the announcement of [[Jimmy Carter|President Carter]]'s "hit list" on water projects profoundly affected the direction of Reclamation's programs and activities.<ref>Paul E. Scheele
Presidential Studies Quarterly
Vol. 8, No. 4, Presidential Power and the Values and Processes of Democracy (Fall, 1978), pp. 348–364</ref>

Reclamation operates about 180 projects in the 17&nbsp;western states. The total Reclamation investment for completed project facilities in September 1992 was about $11&nbsp;billion. Reclamation projects provide agricultural, household, and industrial water to about one‑third of the population of the American West. About 5% of the land area of the West is irrigated, and Reclamation provides water to about one-fifth of that area, some 9,120,000 acres (37,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) in 1992. Reclamation is a major American generator of [[electricity]]. {{As of|2007}}, Reclamation had 58 power plants on‑line and generated 125,000 GJ of electricity.

From 1988 to 1994, Reclamation underwent major reorganization as construction on projects authorized in the 1960s and earlier drew to an end. Reclamation wrote that "The arid West essentially has been reclaimed. The major rivers have been harnessed and facilities are in place or are being completed to meet the most pressing current water demands and those of the immediate future". Emphasis in Reclamation programs shifted from construction to operation and maintenance of existing facilities. Reclamation's redefined official mission is to "manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public". In redirecting its programs and responsibilities, Reclamation substantially reduced its staff levels and budgets but remains a significant federal agency in the West.{{citation needed|date= September 2014}}
[[File:Willard Bay State Park.jpg|thumb|250px|right]]

On October 1, 2017, the [[Hoover Dam Police|Hoover Dam Police Department]] was closed and the [[National Park Service]] took over law enforcement duties for the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam Police Department existed for more than 80 years.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://bouldercityreview.com/news/dam-police-department-dissolved-park-rangers-now-patrol-facility/ | title=Dam police department dissolved; park rangers now patrol facility | date=13 December 2017 }}</ref>

==Leadership==
Reclamation commissioners that have had a strong impact and molding of the Bureau have included [[Elwood Mead]], [[Michael W. Straus]], and [[Floyd Dominy]], with the latter two being public-power boosters who ran the Bureau during its heyday. Mead guided the bureau during the development, planning, and construction of the Hoover Dam, the United States' first multiple-purpose dam.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sutton | first1 = Imre | year = 1968 | title = Geographical Aspects of Construction Planning: Hoover Dam Revisited | journal = Journal of the West | volume = 7 | issue = 3| pages = 301–344 }}</ref>

[[John W. Keys]], the 16th&nbsp;Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation who served from July 2001 to April 2006, was killed two years after his retirement on May 30, 2008, when the airplane he was piloting crashed in [[Canyonlands National Park]], [[Utah]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usbr.gov/history/CommissBios/keys.html|title=Bureau of Reclamation|first=Bureau of|last=Reclamation|website=www.usbr.gov|access-date=17 April 2018}}</ref>

On June 26, 2017, President [[Donald Trump]] nominated [[Brenda Burman]] to serve as the Commissioner of the United States Bureau of Reclamation. She was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on November 16, 2017. Burman is the first woman to ever lead the Bureau of Reclamation. David Murillo was serving as the acting commissioner of the bureau. Burman resigned on January 20 after the inauguration of the [[Biden Administration]].

The current Commissioner is [[M. Camille Calimlim Touton|Camille Calimlim Touton]], the first Filipino American to head the agency. She was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on November 4, 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.watereducation.org/aquafornia-news/aquafornia-breaking-news-camille-calimlim-touton-nominated-bureau-reclamation|title = AQUAFORNIA BREAKING NEWS: Camille Calimlim Touton nominated as Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner| date=22 June 2020 }}</ref>

== List of reclamation projects ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Animas-La Plata Water Project]]
* [[Boise Project]]
* [[Boulder Canyon Project]]
* [[Central Arizona Project Aqueduct]]
* [[Central Utah Project]]
* [[Central Valley Project]]
* [[Colorado-Big Thompson Project]]
* [[Colorado River Storage Project]]
* [[Columbia Basin Project]]
* [[Elwha Ecosystem Restoration|Elwha River Dam Removal Project]]
* [[Fryingpan-Arkansas Project]]
* Gila Project
* High Plains Cooperative Pilot Project
* [[Huntley Project]]
* [[Klamath Project]]
* [[Minidoka Project]]
* [[Moon Lake Project]]
* Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project
* [[North Platte Project]]
* Palo Verde Diversion Project
* Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System Project
* Project Skywater
* [[Rio Grande Project]]
* [[Shoshone Project]]
* Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project
* [[Strawberry Valley Project]]
* [[Washita Basin Project]]
* [[Yuma Auxiliary Project]]
* [[Yuma Project]]
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Colorado River Aqueduct]]
* [[Desert Terminal Lakes Program]]
* [[Grand Coulee Dam]]
* [[List of United States Bureau of Reclamation dams]]
* Refuge Water Supply Program
* [[Riverside Canal (El Paso)]]
* [[Yuma Valley Railway]], a predecessor of the Yuma Valley Railroad that was owned by USG along Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Beard, Daniel P. ''Deadbeat Dams: Why We Should Abolish the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Tear Down Glen Canyon Dam'', (Johnson Books, 2015).

* Börk, Karrigan S. {{"'}}The Wilderness and the Dry Land Will Be Glad; and the Desert Will Rejoice and Blossom like a Rose': The Origins of the Bureau of Reclamation", ''Journal of the West'' 50 (Spring 2011), 60–74.
* Lee, Lawrence B. "100 years of reclamation historiography." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 47.4 (1978): 507-564.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3637371 online]; Covers 1) irrigation , 1878-1902, 2) reclamation service, 3) agricultural settlement, 1902-28, 4) engineering 1887-1953, 5) Department of Agriculture, 1898-1938, 6) historians, 1898-1978, and 7) challenges to Bureau

* [[Marc Reisner]], ''[[Cadillac Desert]]: The American West and Its Disappearing Water.'' Revised edition (Penguin, 1993). {{ISBN|0-14-017824-4}}.
* Pisani, Donald J. ''Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902-1935'', (University of California Press, 2002).
* Rowley, William D. ''The Bureau of Reclamation: Origins and Growth to 1945, vol. 1'', (US Department of the Interior, 2006). 

* Sneddon, Christopher. ''Concrete Revolution: Large Dams, Cold War Geopolitics, and the US Bureau of Reclamation'', (University of Chicago Press, 2015).

== External links ==
{{commons category|United States Bureau of Reclamation}}
*{{official website}}
* [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/reclamation-bureau Bureau of Reclamation] in the [[Federal Register]]
* [http://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.jsp List of Reclamation projects, dams and powerplants]
* [http://www.usbr.gov/history/commiss.html List of Commissioners] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605022051/http://www.usbr.gov/history/commiss.html |date=2013-06-05 }}
* [http://video.idahoptv.org/video/2187914639 Bureau that Changed the West] Documentary produced by [[Idaho Public Television]]

{{DOI agencies}}
{{ES Government}}

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[[Category:United States Bureau of Reclamation| ]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1902]]
[[Category:Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt|Bureau of Reclamation]]
[[Category:Water management authorities in the United States]]
[[Category:United States Department of the Interior agencies|Reclamation]]
[[Category:1902 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]