Includes legislation to establish infrastructure fund to improve refuges
February 12, 2018, WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has proposed a $1.2 billion Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which includes proposed legislation to establish a Public Lands Infrastructure Fund that would take new revenue from federal energy leasing and development and provide up to $18 billion for repairs and improvements in national wildlife refuges, national parks and Bureau of Indian Education funded schools. The Service’s budget also includes $1.6 billion in permanent funding, which is administered to states through grants that support state wildlife and sport fish conservation, recreational boating and other related programs.
Western Governors have asked Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke why they were not consulted in advance about DOI's proposal to change the bureaus’ regional office boundaries and shared additional questions regarding the proposal.
"Western Governors appreciate your desire to improve the efficiency of DOI so that it can more effectively respond to the needs of our nation," said WGA Chair and South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Vice Chair and Hawaii Gov. David Ige in the letter sent Feb. 1. However, the Governors
BITTER CREEK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Calif. – Biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California Condor Recovery Program, together with their partners, released six captive-bred endangered California condors into the wild in the last months of 2017 from Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Kern County, California.
This release brings the population of condors in what is known as the Southern California flock to approximately 80 birds. The Southern California flock’s range includes the backcountry mountains of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Kern counties, as well into the Sierra Nevada Mountains foothills in Tulare and Fresno counties. An additional 88 condors occur near central California’s coast, bringing the total population in California to 168.
Six wounded veterans helped the National Park Service preserve the nation’s history and culture at Lake Mead National Recreation Area Nov. 7-9. At the same time, they found healing.
The vets are part of the Wounded American Veterans Experience SCUBA Project, an organization that helps veterans overcome combat injuries through scuba diving. Just before Veterans Day, they teamed up with the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center to conduct their first dive within a national park.
Secretary Zinke Signs Order to Begin Process of Creating First Ever National Survey of Critical Minerals
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, following President Donald J. Trump's executive order to break America's dependence on foreign minerals, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke signed a secretarial order directing the initial steps to producing the first nationwide geological and topographical survey of the United States in modern history. The order also directs Interior bureaus to begin work on identifying immediate domestic sources for critical minerals.
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