The secretary of the interior, or his duly authorized representative, may on behalf of the United States, sign a petition for the annexation of adjacent unentered public lands of the United States to the district, or to annex such lands to or exclude such unentered lands from any irrigation district; the secretary of the interior, or his duly authorized representative shall be deemed to be the owner thereof for the purposes of signing any petition with like effect as the owner of private lands.
Idaho Code § 43-1802