Department of Interior

In 2020, Congress passed the Not Invisible Act to help address the Missing and Murdered Persons Crisis. The bill formed a federal commission made up of tribal leaders, federal agencies, families, and survivors, who were tasked with developing recommendations on how best to address the crisis. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice responded to these recommendations in early March.

Laura Daniel-Davis, the acting deputy secretary of the Interior Department, made the announcement at NIFC in Boise.

Nearly three million acres in 15 states have been returned to Tribal nations through a decade-long program with the U.S. Interior Department. Federal officials want to continue to make it easier for Indigenous communities to acquire land and place it in trust ownership.

Tribal and federal leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss protecting tribal lands from the effects of climate change. The topic was part of the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit on Dec. 6 and 7.

The U.S. Department of Interior is spending another $51 million on water projects across the West. A majority of those funds – about $30 million – will flow to the Mountain West region.

The federal government is taking new steps to preserve the oral history of Native American boarding schools that were run by governments and churches.

The Interior Department is spending around $40 million in tribal communities to plug old oil and gas wells that have caused serious pollution.

A group led by the Interior Department has released recommendations to reform mining practices on public lands.

The Interior Department recently announced $180 million in new funding for large-scale water recycling programs. The money is available for local agencies looking to reuse wastewater, which officials say will make a big difference for western communities dealing with drought.

A new report shows that visitors to national parks spent a record amount in surrounding communities last year, providing a major economic boost to those areas.