I'm Jeff Conn at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, and you're watching This Week at Interior!

This Week, at Interior  

Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi were in Las Vegas this week to announce progress on multiple clean energy projects in Nevada that will create good-paying jobs, lower families’ energy costs, and help the Biden-Harris administration's renewable energy goals. Among the announcements, the Bureau of Land Management is finalizing two projects that will unlock up to 4.7 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power nearly 5 million homes.

In Tucson, Arizona the Acting Deputy Secretary announced $236 million from the President’s Investing in America Agenda to support wildland fire management across the nation. The funding will help reduce risk from wildfires, support improved wildland firefighter training, expand efforts to rehabilitate burned areas in collaboration with partners, and advance wildfire science. Interior has invested an overall $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for wildland fire management to date.  

The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission this week announced the approval of more than $46.2 million in grants, which will conserve or restore more than 90,000 acres of wetland and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds in 17 states. Those grants will be matched by more than $99.1 million in partner funds. The Commission also approved nearly $12 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners to conserve habitat on seven national wildlife refuges across seven states.  

The Department and Bureau of Reclamation this week announced up to $43.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for small water storage projects that will create new sources of water for communities in the West. Surface water and groundwater storage are essential tools in stretching the limited water supplies worsened by a changing climate, and these projects will increase water management flexibility, making water supply more reliable and communities more resilient.  

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement this week announced nearly $9.7 million for Wyoming to address dangerous and polluting abandoned mine lands, while creating good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and catalyzing economic opportunity. The announcement builds on nearly $19.4 million allocated to Wyoming for abandoned mine reclamation since the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed.  

The Office of Native Hawaiian Relations this week announced $1 million in grants for six Native Hawaiian Organizations to implement the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience, or NATIVE Act. Funding enables Indigenous communities to participate in national tourism goals and strategies while seeking to enhance and integrate native tourism, empower native communities, and expand unique cultural tourism opportunities.  

The National Park Service this week announced more than $12 million in Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants to 17 programs in 15 states. The grants support economic development through the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the country.

And the nation paused this week to honor and remember the victims of the September 11th attacks 23 years ago. President Biden and Vice President Harris marked the occasion with wreath-layings at Ground Zero in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and at the National Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where they were joined by Secretary Haaland and National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. Two thousand, nine-hundred and seventy-seven lives were lost in the 9/11 terror attacks.

And our social media Picture of the Week...the waning days of summer going out in a blaze of glory at Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. This field of wildflowers blooming almost as far as the eye can see under the tallest dunes in North America.

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That's This Week at Interior!