 Spotlighting the Work to Restore, Connect and Conserve 30 Percent of Lands and Waters by 2030
News and Updates
President Biden established the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. Spanning nearly one million acres in northern Arizona, this area is considered sacred by many Tribal Nations in the Southwest and renowned for its natural, cultural, economic, scientific and historic resources and broad recreation opportunities. The national monument designation builds upon decades of efforts from Tribal Nations, state and local officials, conservation and outdoor recreation advocates, local business owners, and members of Congress to recognize and conserve these landscapes in perpetuity. This designation advances the President’s unprecedented climate and conservation agenda and reflects the guiding principles of the America the Beautiful initiative.
Secretary Haaland traveled to Yosemite National Park as part of a month-long tour to celebrate the historic investments from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), a bipartisan investment that improves visitor experiences, bolsters climate resilience and invests in the economy by creating good-paying jobs in our national parks, wildlife refuges, recreation areas and Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools. These necessary investments on long-deferred maintenance projects on public lands are an important part of enabling equitable access to the outdoors in line with the goals of the America the Beautiful initiative.
The Department of the Interior announced over $44 million from the President’s Investing in America agenda to meet critical ecosystem resilience, restoration and environmental planning needs for the National Park Service. These investments from the Inflation Reduction Act will be guided by the Department’s strategic and measurable landscape-scale benefits that advance climate resilience. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Department is implementing more than $2 billion in investments to restore our nation’s lands and waters, much of which helps advance the goals and guiding principles of the America the Beautiful initiative.
The a collaborative and community-based partnership, in tandem with Arenac Conservation District, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Michigan Technological University, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are conducting an ongoing, collaborative project along the Saginaw Bay shoreline in Michigan. This project is aimed at restoring habitat degraded by an invasive plant called phragmites, which can negatively affect animals and other plants. The project begins with aerial mapping to determine phragmites stands in the project area, as well as areas with cattails, open water, and dead plant matter with the goal of giving native species the chance to reestablish themselves and restore the Saginaw Bay shoreline.
The Department of the Interior launched a new interactive map to track the billions invested so far from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in over 1,300 projects nationwide. The tool is the first of its kind from a cabinet agency. The map will allow users to search projects, sorting by program area, state, Tribe and bureau or office, and highlights the immense investment made across the country in the first 18 months of implementation. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $28.1 billion for the Department’s initiatives, including for combatting legacy pollution, restoring critical habitats, addressing the drought crisis, assisting with wildland fire management, and helping communities prepare for extreme weather events.
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