This Week at Interior

This week was a big one for outdoor recreation at the Department! Secretary Haaland, Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis and other Interior leaders and partners hosted a virtual event this week, celebrating the 4th anniversary of the signing of the Great American Outdoors Act -- or GAOA -- and its tremendous impact across America’s national parks, wildlife refuges, recreation areas and Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools. Interior's GAOA projects support an average of 17,000 jobs and contribute an average of $1.9 billion annually to the economy, benefiting urban, suburban, and rural areas across the nation.

Acting Deputy Secretary Daniel-Davis then traveled to Arizona to announce the distribution of $325 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund Stateside Assistance Program to all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. It's the largest annual distribution from the program since 1979. Investments from the LWCF, which was permanently funded through the Great American Outdoors Act, are helping support the Biden-Harris administration’s America the Beautiful initiative by funding locally led outdoor recreation and conservation projects that protect and enhance access to America’s great outdoors.    

And the Department this week also announced $46.7 million in funding through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program for the redevelopment or creation of 10 local parks in 9 states. The ORLP program, established in 2014 and funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, enables urban communities to create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors in economically underserved communities.

Interior this week announced nearly $7 million through the Indian Youth Service Corps for Indigenous-led conservation projects across the nation. The Corps was launched by Secretary Haaland in 2022 to provide meaningful education, employment and training opportunities to Indigenous youth through conservation projects on public and Tribal lands, and Hawaiian homelands. The funding is part of an overall $15 million committed from the President’s Investing in America agenda for corps programs in underserved communities and further advances the American Climate Corps, the Administration’s effort to empower a new, diverse generation of Americans to become part of a growing clean energy and climate-resilience workforce.

Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation this week announced a nearly $105 million investment as part of the President’s Investing in America agenda for 67 water conservation and efficiency projects that will enhance drought resilience across the nation. The projects, located in 11 states, will save more than 111,000 acre-feet of water annually. That’s enough water to supply approximately 447,000 people for a year.

Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis delivered remarks this week during the annual awards ceremony for Women in Federal Law Enforcement, Incorporated, or WIFLE, which highlights the achievements of women law enforcement officers from across the federal government. This year marks 25 years since WIFLE began its work to acknowledge and elevate the roles of women officers in federal service.  

And our social media Picture of the Week, the Bodie Island Lighthouse under the Milky Way at Cape Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Bodie Island is one of five lighthouses on the Outer Banks, and for more than 150 years its powerful light beam has served as a welcome beacon for sailors navigating the treacherous waters known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”  

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That's This Week at Interior.