This Week at Interior July 23, 2021

This Week at Interior  

It's the largest land donation in Interior's history. Secretary Haaland this week announced more than 96-hundred acres of the Cañon Ciruela property from the Trust for Public Land will be added to the Sabinoso Wilderness in New Mexico, nearly doubling its size and creating countless new recreational and economic opportunities. The expansion reflects Interior's commitment to the “America the Beautiful” initiative, a locally-led and voluntary, nationwide effort to conserve, connect, and restore 30 percent of lands, waters and wildlife by 2030. 

Interior this week announced advancement on two solar energy projects: final approval for the Southern Bighorn Solar Project, and initial construction of the Arrow Canyon Solar Project. Both are situated on Moapa Band of Paiutes lands in Nevada, and together they'll support more than 800 jobs and generate enough electricity to power nearly 200,000 homes. They underscore Interior's commitment to clean energy projects that will help communities across the country be part of the climate solution while creating good-paying jobs. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service this week is making important critical habitat proposals for the northern spotted owl. That includes the potential of more than 180,000 acres of BLM-managed lands, and 20,000 acres of Tribal lands in Oregon. The northern spotted owl was recently found to warrant up-listing from threatened to endangered, under the Endangered Species Act. 

Map specialists at the U.S. Geological Survey are helping NASA's exploration of a distant moon that could actually harbor life. We’re talking about Europa, a tiny ice-covered world orbiting Jupiter almost 400-million miles from Earth. But under that ice lies a massive ocean. USGS is re-processing all of the available images of Europa’s surface, turning them into perfectly aligned, full-resolution images. That comes just in time for NASA's planned Europa Clipper mission in 2024. 

An all-women’s conservation corps crew is working in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks this summer through the Montana Conservation Corps. The six-woman crew is focusing on fuels management projects right now, and in mid-August will be eligible for emergency firefighter status under the National Park Service. This project was made possible in part by a grant from the National Park Foundation and REI Co-op. 

Interior is celebrating Latino Conservation Week, July 17th through the 25th. It's a time for Latino communities across the country to come together and show their passion for our natural, cultural and recreational resources. And it's a time for Interior to shine a spotlight on the contributions that the Latino community has made to conservation and stewardship across our Department. Find out more on our blog. 

And our social media Picture of the Week...this American crocodile, opening up and saying “Ahhh” at Everglades National Park in Florida. That's right, we said crocodile, not alligator...'gators come in darker colors, and favor freshwater habitats. The much rarer crocodile is lightly-colored, and prefers the Everglade's coastal salt-water digs. Anyway our reptilian friend here isn't attacking, or even smiling for the camera...he's thermo-regulating, keeping his cool by opening that great big, toothy mouth. 

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That’s This Week, at Interior.