This Week at Interior March 1, 2024

This Week at Interior  

Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis traveled to North Carolina this week to announce $119 million in available funding for locally led conservation projects to restore our nation’s lands and waters through the 2024 America the Beautiful Challenge. The challenge advances President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative, which set the nation’s first-ever goal to conserve and restore 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.  

The Acting Deputy Secretary also traveled to Kentucky this week, where she announced $74.2 million from the President’s Investing in America agenda to address dangerous and polluting abandoned mines, create good-paying, family-sustaining jobs and catalyze economic opportunity in the state. She toured mine remediation sites with Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Principal Deputy Director Sharon Buccino.

Interior this week released draft guidance on how states can apply for up to $30 million each in matching grants to create jobs and clean up polluting and unsafe orphaned oil and gas wells across the country. Orphaned oil and gas wells are polluting backyards, recreation areas, and community spaces, and methane leaking from such wells is a significant contributor to climate change.

Interior and the National Park Service this week announced a $195 million investment from the President’s Investing in America agenda for climate restoration and resilience projects over the next decade, protecting America’s national parks for generations to come. National parks across the United States will use this funding to prepare for the impacts of climate change, protect species, restore ecosystems and invest in conservation jobs.  

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz traveled to Arizona to announce $10.3 million from the President’s Investing in America agenda to restore Arizona’s lands and waters through locally led, landscape-scale restoration projects. The funding is part of the recently announced $157 million in investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is supporting 206 ecosystem restoration projects across the country. Assistant Secretary Estenoz later traveled to Grand Canyon National Park to tour projects being funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to restore ecosystems, upgrade infrastructure, and keep visitors safe.

Administration leaders including Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis and Interior Solicitor Bob Anderson joined state and Tribal leaders this week to celebrate an historic agreement to restore wild salmon, steelhead and other native fish populations in the Columbia River. The agreement also expands Tribally sponsored clean energy production and provides stability for communities that depend on the Columbia River System for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation.

The U.S. Geological Survey this week launched its new online tool for science critical to the future management of one of the nation's most vital waterways. The Colorado River Basin Science Collaboration Portal is part of a new effort that brings together expertise and data to support decision making related to drought impacts in the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to nearly 40 million people across a quarter million square miles of the American west.

The Bureau of Land Management this week announced the approval of the right of way for the Alta Wind Battery Energy Storage System in Kern County, California. The project is designed to deliver 150 megawatts of electricity to the California power grid, store up to 1,200 megawatts, and increase the availability of clean power produced by the existing Alta Wind Energy Center.  

This week we mark not one, but two important anniversaries. The U.S. Geological Survey marks 145 years of service this year. Founded on March 3rd, 1879, USGS studies the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it, providing quality scientific information to the public and to decision makers.

And on March 3rd, 1849, Congress established the United States Department of the Interior. For 175 years, dedicated public servants have worked to deliver for the American people. Every day, we fulfill our mission to steward America's vast public lands and resources, honor our trust and treaty responsibilities with Tribal Nations, and tell America's story for past, present, and future generations. Here’s to many more years to come!  

And our social media Picture of the Week, talk about right place, right time – we see this beautiful Bohemian waxwing in Alaska, caught in the act of grabbing a snack! Waxwings are songbirds known for their sleek plumage and distinctive markings. And in winter, they love to hang out with their buddies and pluck berries, including those that have undergone fermentation due to the cold temperatures.

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That's This Week at Interior!