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This Week: Secretary Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland joined First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to visit the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin; the nation welcomed two new additions to the Refuge System during National Wildlife Refuge Week; Secretary Haaland made stops in Virginia and Tennessee to highlight the President’s Investing in America agenda; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is funding up to $36 million for fish passage projects; the Bureau of Land Management is improving sagebrush habitat thanks to $4.5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act; the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement has announced five states that will receive exemplary awards; the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that early inhabitants and megafauna co-existed for several millennia before the terminal Pleistocene extinction event; the Paleontology Program at the National Park Service announced a new shark species has been discovered; and we’re celebrating Autumn with our social media Picture of the Week!
Strengthening and Empowering Indigenous Communities
 Secretary Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland joined First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to visit the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin to learned about the Tribe’s economic and sustainability initiatives. The visit highlighted how President Biden's Investing in America agenda is strengthening Indigenous communities.
Expanding Vital Habitat for Wildlife Species
 It’s National Wildlife Refuge Week! Interior announced two new additions to the Refuge System. The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area and the Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee will be managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the 569th and 570th units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Highlighting Infrastructure Improvements Across the Country
 As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America tour, Secretary Haaland made stops in Virginia and Tennessee to highlight how federal investments are helping to build healthy communities.
 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced up to $36 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for fish passage projects this week. The funding will address outdated, unsafe or obsolete dams, culverts, levees and other barriers fragmenting our nation’s rivers and streams.
 The Bureau of Land Management is improving sagebrush habitat thanks to $4.5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act. The funding will build on existing sagebrush conservation and restoration work for an additional five years.
 The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement has announced five states that will receive the 2023 Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Awards. This year’s awards go to Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
 A new study reaffirms what the U.S. Geological Survey researchers and an international team of scientists discovered in 2021: human presence in North America dates back thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
 Just in time for National Fossil Day, the Paleontology Program at the National Park Service announced this week that a new species of petal-toothed shark has been discovered.
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