This Week at Interior March 22, 2024

Hi, I'm Roderick May, I'm the manager of Neosho National Fish Hatchery, in Neosho, Missouri, and you're watching This Week at Interior! This Week at Interior Secretary Haaland traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas, this week to highlight how President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and America the Beautiful initiative are restoring our nation’s lands and waters and creating healthier outdoor spaces for people and wildlife. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has been awarded a nearly $4 million grant through the America the Beautiful Challenge for the War Eagle Creek Collaborative Restoration Initiative, which will help reconnect the creek, restore watershed functions, and improve water quality for the surrounding habitats and communities. Secretary Haaland then traveled to Missouri, where she highlighted investments from the Investing in America agenda to address legacy pollution. Missouri has received more than $16 million to address abandoned mine lands and to begin work assessing and inventorying thousands of orphaned oil and gas wells. During a visit to Gateway Arch National Park, Secretary Haaland announced a new $17 million investment from the Great American Outdoors Act that will enable the park to continue restoration of the Old Courthouse, the site of the first two trials of the pivotal Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850. Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz visited Puerto Rico last week to highlight how Interior is supporting conservation projects on the island with investments from the Investing in America agenda. The Assistant Secretary traveled to Cabo Rojo, where she joined island leaders to celebrate a $5 million grant from the America the Beautiful Challenge to restore coastal habitats and resilience of the Salt Flats at the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge. She also joined leaders from The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico to tour various sites in southwest Puerto Rico being protected and preserved for their ecological or historical significance. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Dr. Steve Feldgus, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Elizabeth Klein, and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Deputy Director Paul Huang were in Brownsville, Texas this week, touring the wind turbine installation vessel Charybdis, currently under construction. Once complete the vessel will be based out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, and will support the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project approved by Interior last fall. Interior this week announced its proposal for a second offshore wind energy auction in the Gulf of Mexico. The proposed lease sale includes four areas offshore Louisiana and Texas, totaling more than 400,000 acres, which have the potential to power 1.2 million homes. The announcement is part of the Administration’s commitment to expand offshore wind opportunities, building on investments made by the President’s Investing in America agenda to develop a clean energy economy, create good-paying jobs for American workers and make our communities more resilient. A signing ceremony was held this week at Redwood National Park in California, featuring the National Park Service, the Yurok Tribe, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Save the Redwoods League. The Park Service is transferring a 125-acre ecologically and culturally important property back to the Yurok Tribe, its original steward. It's the first-ever cooperative arrangement for the National Park Service and California State Parks on Tribally owned land. While celebrating Women’s History Month, Secretary Haaland this week visited the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site in Washington, D.C. The first in her family born free, Bethune was an abolitionist and trailblazer for Black women’s education and influence in national politics. As the founding president of the National Council of Negro Women – stationed at the Council House – Bethune advised numerous presidents, including President Franklin Roosevelt, and helped lay the groundwork for the modern Civil Rights Movement. And our social media Picture of the Week, they're back! The world-famous cherry blossoms of Washington D.C. burst into bloom this week at the Tidal Basin and along the National Mall, about a week earlier than predicted after mild late-winter weather in the Nation's Capital. This year's National Cherry Blossom Festival runs through April 14th. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. That's This Week at Interior!