This Year at Interior 2023

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Hello everyone - I’m Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior.

This year, the Department focused on helping every American community to thrive.  

Thanks to new, historic resources, provided through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are in the midst of healing, transforming, and strengthening our country – reaching communities in every corner of the United States, including those that have too often been left behind.  

In the face of the climate and biodiversity crises, new resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act are helping to safeguard communities from the most severe threats, including drought, wildfire, and coastal erosion.

Not only that, but we are creating jobs, revitalizing local economies that are the backbone of our nation, inspiring a clean energy economy, advancing scientific innovation, and restoring our public lands and waters so more Americans can enjoy the great outdoors.  

But don’t just take it from me – here's what other Department leaders have to say....

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I'm Shannon Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.  

At the Department of the Interior, we know that nature is essential to the health, well-being, and prosperity of every community. That is at the heart of the President’s America the Beautiful initiative, and our work to expand access to our nation’s national parks, wildlife refuges and outdoor spaces.  

This year, we launched a new restoration and resilience framework to steward over $2 billion in investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to restore our nation’s lands and waters.  

Through this framework we're working to address climate change impacts, including through restoring the Klamath Basin, salt marshes and core sage brush areas; supporting habitat restoration for salmon, bison, and Hawaiian forest birds that hold cultural, subsistence, and ecosystem significance; and enhance communities’ quality of life in Appalachia by improving outdoor spaces and addressing legacy pollution.

At the heart of America the Beautiful, we are striving to advance conservation efforts that are locally-led, collaborative and inclusive, honor Tribal sovereignty, and follow the science.

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"Boozhoo aanii. Mino ghiizhep!" (Hello and good day in Ojibwe)  

My name is Bryan Newland, and I serve as the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, here at the Department of the Interior.  

Honoring our government-to-government relationship with Tribes and upholding our trust and treaty responsibilities are paramount to our mission here at Interior.

With new resources through the President’s Investing in America agenda, this year we deployed record investments to provide modern wastewater and sanitation systems, clean drinking water, reliable and affordable electricity, while creating good paying jobs in Tribal communities.  

Through our new voluntary Community Driven Relocation Program, we're dedicating the most funding in history towards supporting Tribes most severely impacted by climate change with voluntary relocation, planning, and adaptation. Through all of this hard work we are putting consultation, collaboration and co-stewardship with Tribes at the forefront.  

This is one step among many that we're taking to strengthen the resilience of Indigenous communities and get the resources into the hands of Tribal leaders who know best how to care for their people.

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I am Carmen Cantor, Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs.

The U.S. Territories are a vital part of the fabric of America. As we at Interior steward new investments from the President’s Investing in America agenda, we are working closely with our territorial partners to ensure these investments make the largest impact and reach as many communities as possible.  

To help in this endeavor, this year we waived all local cost-sharing requirements for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and U.S. Virgin Islands for all Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act grants.  

This initiative removes financial barriers as our work continues to safeguard ecosystems, revitalize domestic water supplies, and advance climate resilience in the territories.  

This work builds on our other efforts to ensure that U.S. territories are part of any climate solution, and that the COMPACT agreements with our Freely Associated States partners are fully enacted and funded by Congress.

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I’m Michael Brain, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.

As communities across the West experience severe drought conditions, we bring every tool and every resource to bear, ensuring that we both minimize the impacts of the drought, and also develop long-term plans to facilitate conservation and economic growth, because no community should be left behind.  

Nowhere is this more acutely needed than in the Colorado River Basin, on which 7 states, 30 Tribes, and 40 million people rely.

Through the President’s Investing in America agenda, we are leveraging over $12 billion nationwide to revitalize aging water systems, advance innovative water reuse methods, and connect rural and disadvantaged communities to clean, reliable drinking water supplies, many who have been waiting decades for clean water to flow from their taps.  

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I’m Joan Mooney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget.

As climate change drives longer-lasting, more intense and more destructive wildfires across the country, we’re putting resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to use in supporting our wildland firefighting workforce and increasing the resilience of lands that are under the most direct threat.  

This year, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we launched development of a joint behavioral health program for wildland firefighters. We also implemented temporary pay increases for all wildland firefighters and we are working with champions in Congress to make them permanent.  

To more effectively prepare for and respond to wildland fires, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, which Interior co-chairs, also released a report with a comprehensive set of recommendations outlining strategies to chart a new path for collaborative wildland fire management – a path that responds to the growing challenge of wildland fire that the climate crisis exacerbates.  

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I’m Steve Feldgus, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management.

Through the President’s Investing in America agenda, we're implementing the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history.  

Millions of Americans live within one mile of a toxic abandoned coal mine or orphaned oil and gas well. Not only are these sites environmental hazards, but they also jeopardize public health and safety, lead to flooding, and can cause sinkholes that harm neighborhoods, roadways, and wildlife.  

With historic new resources, states, Tribes, and federal land managers have remediated over 6,000 orphaned oil and gas wells and reclaimed hundreds of abandoned mines – creating jobs and revitalizing local economies in the process.  

This year at Interior, we also established a new Orphaned Well Program Office to help with effective, accountable and efficient implementation of this program making it easier for our partners in this work to get boots on the ground as quickly as possible.

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I'm Bob Anderson, Solicitor of the Department of the Interior.  

The Upper Columbia River Basin historically supported abundant wild salmon, steelhead, and native resident fish populations, which supported and sustained thriving Tribal cultures and communities. Since time immemorial, members of these Tribes and their ancestors stewarded these native species and relied upon their abundance as the staples of their daily diets and ceremony.  

Yet for decades, entire swaths of this region have been cut off from the salmon that rely on the river to complete their journeys to the sea and back again.  

This year at Interior, we finalized an historic agreement that will support Tribally led efforts to restore healthy and abundant salmon populations in the Upper Columbia River Basin, and safeguard cultural and spiritual practices in the region. This agreement will support our work to honor federal commitments to Tribal Nations, deliver affordable and reliable clean power, and meet the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region.

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I’m Laura Daniel-Davis, Acting Deputy Secretary.

Partnerships are core to everything we do at the Department. States, Tribes, local, and federal partners are key to leveraging the historic resources from the President’s Investing in America agenda to strengthen the communities we serve.  

From collaborative conservation to investing in Indian Country to ensuring community resilience across our nation, we spent this year working hand in hand with partners to make sure that we were developing programs that had the benefit of their feedback.  

Invaluable perspectives from farmers, ranchers, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, water users, workers, and labor leaders, conservationists, and so many others, informed our efforts.  

As we implement once-in-a-generation investments provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, we will continue to work together to get these resources to the communities who need them most.  

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Our work is far from over, but I’m so incredibly grateful for all that we’ve accomplished this year. None of this would be possible without the more than 65,000 career employees and contractors who are the backbone of our team.

Together, we are building a brighter, more equitable future for everyone. Here’s to an incredibly productive 2023, and endless possibilities for 2024!  

And so from all of us here at the Department of the Interior, Happy Holidays, and best wishes for. Happy New Year!

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