Interior among Top Federal Agencies for Small Businesses Procurement
The Small Business Association (SBA) released their annual Scorecard rates for federal agency performance in meeting overall small business goal and the component contracting goals for small disadvantaged businesses, small businesses in HUBZones, and small businesses owned by women and service-disabled veterans. The Department of the Interior was one of the top federal agencies in FY2008, meeting four of the five procurement goals. more
Secretary Salazar accompanied by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley (left) visits students at the Hunters Point Boarding School, Window Rock, AZ. (Photo credit: Tami A. Heilemann-DOI) Hi-Res
Secretary Salazar and Top Interior Policymakers Visit Navajo Nation
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told Navajo Nation officials Thursday that President Obama’s major goals for working with Indian Country include improving educational opportunities for American Indian children, strengthening law enforcement and advancing self-sustaining economic development for tribal communities. more
$40 Million in Recovery Funding to Improve Water Conservation in the West
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Bureau of Reclamation has selected Challenge Grant projects in Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon and Utah that will receive $40 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Deputy Assitant Secretary Robert Stanton and Secretary Salazar congratulate Joshua P. Sommerville of Gaithersburg High School and his parents on his scholarship. (Photo credit: Tami A. Heilemann-DOI) Hi-Res
Secretary Salazar Congratulates Interior Blacks-in-Government Members and Scholarship Recipients
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today commended the Department of the Interior’s Blacks-in-Government (BIG) chapter for its community service and presented 10 recent high school graduates from the Washington, D.C area with college scholarships funded by BIG members.more
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve has used $50,000 in Recovery Act funds to build a shuttle bus turnaround, shelter, signs and
interpretive exhibits at Kennecott, a national historic landmark within the park. (Photo credit: Grant Crosby-NPS) Hi-Res
Assistant Secretary Strickland Highlights Interiors $85 Million in Recovery Act Investments in Alaska
On a two-week visit to Alaska, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland today highlighted more than $85 million that Interior is investing in Alaska under the President’s economic recovery package. The funding is designed to create jobs, stimulate local economies, and enable rehabilitation and improvement projects at national parks, refuges, and other public lands in the state. more
Surface salt deposits left on pasture lands east of Cleveland, Utah caused by irrigation flood run-off. (USBR photo)] Hi-Res
$11.1 Million in Grants for Colorado River Basinwide Salinity Control Program
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that the Bureau of Reclamation will award grants totaling more than $11.1 million to irrigation companies in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to fund salinity control projects within the Upper Colorado River Basin under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). more
Offshore Lease Sale in Gulf Generates $115 Million; Onshore Energy Sale in Utah Attracts $1.1 Million
A sale of federal oil and natural gas leases for the Western Gulf of Mexico attracted $115,466,321 in high bids today, following yesterday’s $1.1 million sale of onshore energy leases in Utah. To date this year, the department has offered 55 million acres of U.S. public land – onshore and offshore – for oil and gas development, generating more than $875 million in revenues. more
USGS scientists Lia Chaser (left) and Erica Rau (right) study fish in the St. Marys River in northern Florida for analysis of mercury. [Photo by Mark Brigham - USGS] Hi-Res
Study Reveals Mercury in Fish Nationwide
Scientists detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the country, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study released today.
About a quarter of these fish were found to contain mercury at levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than two-thirds of the fish exceeded the U.S. EPA level of concern for fish-eating mammals. more
The First Family visits Yellowstone National Park. Visitation to our National Parks has increased in 2009. [Photo by Tami A. Heilemann - DOI] Hi-Res
National Parks Visitation Rises in 2009
America’s national parks are seeing more visitors in 2009 than a year earlier, according to visitation information collected by the National Park Service (NPS). In the first half of 2009, national park units experienced 127,728,898 visits, an increase of nearly 4.5 million visits over the same period in 2008. In June alone, visitation to national parks increased by over 718,000 visits between 2008 to 2009. more
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