This Week at Interior October 8, 2021

This Week at Interior  

Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement is part of the unified command responding this week to an oil spill off the coast of Orange County, California. BSEE shares responsibility for managing the pipeline with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the California State Fire Marshal and the California Department of Conservation. While the U.S. Coast Guard is leading containment and cleanup efforts, BSEE, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other Interior offices are assisting in the response. 

Secretary Haaland took part in two listening sessions this week, as Interior continues to mark Hispanic Heritage Month. The first session with Hispanic and Latino elected officials included the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi. And the second session, hosted by the League of United Latin American Citizens, focused on the role and presence of Latinos in the conservation movement. 

The Secretary this week announced $348 million for 62 projects in Nevada and the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Those projects are dedicated to recreation improvement, wildlife habitat conservation, hazardous fuels reduction, wildfire prevention, and other purposes through the sale of public lands under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. 

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland and Bureau of Indian Education Director Tony Dearman led a forum this week for students and their families, addressing COVID-19 vaccinations, and discussing the best ways to provide the safest, in-person educational environment possible. All educators at BIE schools must be fully vaccinated by October 15th. The forum was conducted in coordination with the CDC and the Indian Health Service. 

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey are keeping a watching eye this week on Hawai'i's Mount Kilauea volcano after its latest eruption. Over the past several days a layer of molten lava nearly 90-feet thick has accumulated at the base of the crater. The eruption is currently confined within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and USGS expects it will remain within the summit region. 

The National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program awarded more than $900,000 to its preservation partners across the country this week. Among the recipients was the Fort Ticonderoga Association, which will use the funding to increase access to the National Historic Landmark known as Liberty Hill. The site was occupied and reoccupied by Continental, British, Native American and German troops throughout the Revolutionary War. 

Vice President Harris kicked off the Combined Federal Campaign this week. That's the official workplace giving campaign for federal employees and retirees, which has raised more than eight and a half billion dollars for charities and people in need for the last 60 years. Secretary Haaland is the co-chair of this year's campaign, which runs through January 15th, 2022.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, this majestic bighorn sheep at Glacier National Park in Montana. It's one of more than seventy species of mammal that call the park home...it's also one of very few that can survive the park's frigid winters at high elevations. Glacier National Park has over a million acres, and it's surrounded by national forests and wilderness areas where there's plenty of room to roam, whether you're a sheep or not. 

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That’s This Week, at Interior