About the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)
Established in 1849, DOI is the U.S. Cabinet-level agency that manages natural and cultural resources:
- Administers 203 million hectares (504 million acres) of federal land (equal to 1/5th of all U.S. lands), including national parks, wild and scenic rivers, wildlife refuges, wilderness, seashores, recreation areas, trails, historic sites, multiple-use lands (e.g., grazing, mining, oil extraction).
- Provides visitor services and educational opportunities to over 507 million tourists per year.
- Collects revenue of $10 billion per year from land sales, concessionaire fees, recreation fees, and leases for grazing and resource extraction.
- Provides resources for 30% of the nation’s energy, through hydropower, coal, geothermal, and over 7,300 active oil and gas leases.
- Has reclaimed over 76 thousand hectares of abandoned coal mine sites.
- Conducts world-class scientific research on earth processes, natural disasters, water, biological, resources, energy, and mineral resources.
DOI has 70,000 employees in 8 technical bureaus:
- National Park Service
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Bureau of Land Management (multiple-use lands)
- Bureau of Reclamation (water resources)
- Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement
- Minerals Management Service
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
About DOI's International Technical Assistance Program
In 1995, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and DOI established the DOI International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) to provide capacity building in other countries using the diverse expertise of DOI bureaus. DOI-ITAP capacity building includes, but is not limited to: on-site technical assistance, study tours, mentoring, train-the-trainers workshops, procurement, and training in operations and maintenance of equipment. Project expenses are covered by external funds, while DOI contributes salaries and benefits of short-term technical experts. To date, DOI-ITAP has provided technical assistance to 25 countries, with $20 million in donor funds from sources such as USAID, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the U.S. State Department.
DOI expertise can be tapped from a wide range of subject areas, including:
- Protected area management
- Cultural resources management
- Environmental education
- Endangered species conservation
- Visitor services
- Recreation management
- Fire management
- Invasive species control
- Minerals management
- Reclamation of abandoned mine lands
- Ecotourism
- Wildlife law enforcement
- Resource interpretation
- Park infrastructure
- Concessionaires management
- Community outreach
- Multiple-use management
- Water resources
Democracy and Good Governance
Economic Growth
Unique Strengths of the DOI-ITAP Program
- DOI-ITAP fosters direct, sustained government-to-government professional exchanges between U.S. natural resource managers and their government counterparts in other countries.
- DOI specialists have a depth of applied technical expertise, domestic and international experience, and relevant language skills. DOI-ITAP is able to field interdisciplinary teams from multiple bureaus.
- DOI-ITAP partners with local and international NGOs, as well as private contractors , lending unique government-to-government expertise to technical assistance projects while leveraging resources.
- Working with DOI-ITAP saves donor dollars. DOI-ITAP covers the salaries and benefits of all short-term technical experts, as well as the salaries and benefits of selected managerial, administrative, and technical staff. Donor funds only cover the costs of travel and per diem of DOI technical staff, equipment, and planning and coordination.
