Embedded Files
In serving the Nation, the Department of the Interior delivers results in three areas:
In serving the Nation, the Department of the Interior delivers results in three areas:
Resources
Resources
Interior protects and manages the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage
Photo: National Park Service
Science
Science
Science and other knowledge developed at Interior are used by people every day
Photo: US Geological Survey
Tribes
Tribes
Fulfilling the United States' constitutional and Trust obligations to Tribes is essential
Photo: Bureau of Indian Affairs
Are you curious about Interior's responsibilities for our Nation's resources, like mountain goats at Yellowstone National Park (Photo: NPS), or our cultural heritage, like the role Col. Charles Young and the Buffalo Soldiers played in our history (Photo: National Archives)? Interior is here for you!
Resources
Resources
Interior may best be know for being responsible for our national parks and monuments through the National Park Service. But the sweep of its responsibilities for natural resources and cultural heritage is much broader.
Through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior is responsible for assisting "Tribal governments and allottees in managing, protecting, and developing their trust lands and natural resources, which total 56 million surface acres and 60 million acres of subsurface mineral estates."
Through the Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior manages and protects over 570 national wildlife refuges that provide a home for wildlife ranging from ducks and other migratory birds to ecosystems. These are places for people to enjoy them! The Service also protects and recoverss endangered species, enforces and supports wildlife trade laws, and more.
Our Nation's energy, minerals, and associated revenues are managed by Interior from the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Office of Natural Resource Revenue. At the same time, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement ensure the safety of operations and reclaiming lands and waters after mining.
Water resources that people depend on for irrigating crops and providing hydropower, from the Bureau of Reclamation at Interior.
Science
Science
Effectively, efficiently, and equitably managing the United States' natural and cultural resources depends on reliable data, science, and other knowledge
The U.S. Geological Survey is the Department's principal science agency, providing research and data for managers, the private sector, and people every day:
Water: its quantities and qualities, above- and below-ground.
Energy, whether renewable or non-renewable, and mineral resources, domestic and international.
The Nation's ecosystems, how they function and respond to management, and our dependence on them.
Natural hazards, from earthquakes to flooding to coastal erosion, and more.
Core science, like the USGS maps on which millions of people have depended over the years.
Science is not just the purview of USGS, but is developed, supported, and used across Interior's bureaus and offices, such as Science Applications at Fish and Wildlife Service, in the National Park Service, engineering and other technical knowledge at the Bureau of Reclamation, the BOEM, and BSEE, and more.
In addition to Western science, the Department relies on other ways of knowing, like Indigenous Knowledges that provide--and have provided since time immemorial--insight into nature and our relationship with it.
Science about water in snow or clouds, ecosystems, the species that are part of our natural heritage is essential to Interior and the country. (Photo: USGS)
The Department consults with Native American Tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians as part of fulfilling its obligations to Indian Country. (Photo: Office of Subsistence Management, DOI)
Tribes
Tribes
The United States has deep constitutional and moral obligations to Native American Tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, plus special commitments to the peoples of affiliated insular areas. Interior has major responsibilities in meeting these obligations, such as:
Identifying and protecting treaty and rights that are guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
As noted above, assisting "Tribal governments and allottees in managing, protecting, and developing their trust lands and natural resources, which total 56 million surface acres and 60 million acres of subsurface mineral estates."
Advancing self-governance and self-determination of Tribes as required under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
Supporting economic development in Indian Country through access to capital, grants, and technical assistance.
Providing quality education opportunities from early childhood onward in accordance with a tribe’s needs for cultural and economic well-being.
Banner photo: MARINe (Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network) field work with University of California-Santa Cruz staff in December 2022 at Vandenburg Space Force Base. Photo CC-BY Abigail Ryder / BOEM.gov
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