This Week at Interior May 10, 2024

This Week at Interior

Secretary Haaland and Department leaders joined Biden-Harris administration officials, prominent historians, museum leaders, conservation leaders and others this week to honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls to our history. The event highlighted President Biden’s recent Executive Order to strengthen the National Park Service’s recognition of women’s history to help honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls to our country. The Secretary announced a new women’s history virtual exhibition from the Service called “Home and Homelands,” which explores how women have made, claimed and fought for their homes and shaped American history throughout the Pacific West.  

Secretary Haaland traveled to New Mexico this week to announce a $60 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for water conservation and drought resilience in the Rio Grande Basin, as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s all-of-government approach to building drought resilience in the West. Stretching over 1,200 miles, the Rio Grande provides water for agriculture and nearby communities, supports eight Tribal Nations, habitat for migrating birds and other species, and a robust outdoor recreation industry.  

Interior this week announced $147 million investment from the President’s Investing in America agenda to help western communities in ten states prepare and respond to challenges due to drought and other water scarcity concerns. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton made the announcement during a visit with the Southern Ute Tribe in southwestern Colorado. The Tribe is being awarded a $2.3 million grant to upgrade their water system to provide reliable water levels during various water flow periods.

Interior this week announced that more than $87 million in funding has been approved by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. That will provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners the ability to help conserve or restore more than 300,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds across North America. The Commission also approved more than $2.7 million from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to help conserve habitat on two national wildlife refuges across two states.  

With the addition last month of the Tule River Indian Tribe in California, the National Park Service has now signed ten new Tribal Historic Preservation agreements in five states over the last year. The program assists Native American Tribes in strengthening their historic preservation efforts, transferring certain preservation responsibilities to Tribes that would otherwise be the responsibility of the state.  

Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen Cantor this week announced nearly two and a half million dollars in Technical Assistance Program funding for the U.S. Virgin Islands through Interior's Office of Insular Affairs. The funds will be used to purchase needed medical equipment, to train youth for employment, and to train utility employees in energy grid management and integration across power sources.  

It's the largest ongoing freshwater fishery restoration effort in the world, and it's underway once again on the Great Lakes. Through the end of May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with Tribal and state partners, is performing its annual restocking effort, transporting nearly three million lake trout to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron after rearing them in fish hatcheries. Once devastated by overharvest and invasive species, lake trout are now restored in Lake Superior and are showing much more successful reproduction in the other Great Lakes since efforts began in the 1990s.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Annalise Blum joined U.S. Geological Survey Director David Applegate in celebrating Amphibian Week on the National Mall this week, along with personnel from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Departments of Defense and Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service and the Smithsonian Institution. The event highlighted the importance of amphibians and showcased how Interior's agencies are helping to understand and conserve these fascinating animals.  

Secretary Haaland, Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis and Department leaders this week saluted the recipients of the 2024 Interior Honor Awards Convocation, the most prestigious recognition that can be granted by the Department for career accomplishments, exceptional support of the Department’s mission, or for heroism.

I hope each of you leave here today with a renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment. This team is beyond a doubt essential, and I am so grateful to be in this historic work alongside of you. All of you inspire me to do the best job I can as Secretary, and you are shining examples of what it means to serve our country.

For a complete list of this year’s winners, check out doi.gov/convocation77.  

And our social media Picture of the Week...this breathtaking image of Lemhi Pass on the Idaho/Montana border, as we mark National Wildflower Week. Here in the steps of Lewis and Clark, it's the perfect time to pause and marvel at a spectacular vista, made even more stunning by the glorious hues of yellow and violet under the big bright blue sky.

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That's This Week at Interior!