 Seal of the U.S. Department of the Interior | |
 Flag of the U.S. Department of the Interior | |
 | |
 Exterior of the main Interior Building | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | March 3, 1849 |
| Type | Department |
| Jurisdiction | Federal Government of the United States |
| Headquarters |
38°53′40″N77°02′33″W / 38.89444°N 77.04250°W /38.89444; -77.04250 |
| Employees | 67,026  |
| Annual budget | $18.0 billion (2025)[1][2][3] |
| Agency executives | |
| Website | doi |
TheUnited States Department of the Interior (DOI) is anexecutive department of theU.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of mostfederal lands andnatural resources. It also administers programs relating toNative Americans,Alaska Natives,Native Hawaiians, and four of the five inhabitedinsular areas of the United States,[4] as well as programs related to historic preservation. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by theDepartment of Agriculture'sForest Service.[5] The department was created on March 3, 1849. It is headquartered at theMain Interior Building, located at 1849 C StreetNW inWashington, D.C.
The department is headed by thesecretary of the interior, who reports directly to thepresident of the United States and is a member of the president'sCabinet. The current interior secretary isDoug Burgum, who was sworn in on February 1, 2025.
As of mid-2004, the department managed 507 million acres (2,050,000 km2) of surface land, or about one-fifth of the land in the United States. It manages 476 dams and 348reservoirs through theBureau of Reclamation, 433national parks, monuments, historical sites, etc. through theNational Park Service, and 544 nationalwildlife refuges through theFish and Wildlife Service. The largest land management agency is theBureau of Land Management, managing about one-eighth of the land in the United States.
Despite its name, the Department of the Interior has a different role from that of theinterior ministries of other nations, which are usually responsible for police matters and internal security. In the United States, national security and immigration functions are performed by theDepartment of Homeland Security primarily and theDepartment of Justice secondarily. The Department of the Interior has often been humorously called "the Department of Everything Else" because of its broad range of responsibilities.[6]
A department for domestic concern was first considered by the1st United States Congress in 1789, but those duties were placed in theDepartment of State. The idea of a separate domestic department continued to percolate for a half-century and was supported by presidents fromJames Madison toJames Polk. The 1846–48Mexican–American War gave the proposal new steam as the responsibilities of the federal government grew. Polk'ssecretary of the treasury,Robert J. Walker, became a vocal champion of creating the new department.[7][8][9]
In 1849, Walker stated in his annual report that several federal offices were placed in departments with which they had little to do. He noted that theUnited States General Land Office had little to do with the Treasury and also highlighted theIndian Affairs office, part of theDepartment of War, and thePatent Office, part of theDepartment of State. Walker argued that these and other bureaus should be brought together in a new Department of the Interior.[citation needed] A bill authorizing its creation of the department passed theHouse of Representatives on February 15, 1849, and spent just over two weeks in theSenate. The department was established on March 3, 1849 (9 Stat. 395), the eve of PresidentZachary Taylor's inauguration, when the Senate voted 31 to 25 to create the department. Its passage was delayed byDemocrats inCongress who were reluctant to create morepatronage posts for the incomingWhig administration to fill. The firstsecretary of the interior wasThomas Ewing.
Several of the domestic concerns the department originally dealt with were gradually transferred to other departments. For example, the Department of Interior was responsible for water pollution control prior to the creation of theEnvironmental Protection Agency.[10] Other agencies became separate departments, such as theBureau of Agriculture, which later became theDepartment of Agriculture. However, land and natural resource management, American Indian affairs, wildlife conservation, and territorial affairs remain the responsibilities of the Department of the Interior.
Secretary of the InteriorAlbert B. Fall was implicated in theTeapot Dome scandal of 1921. He was convicted of bribery in 1929, and served one year in prison, for his part in the controversy. A major factor in the scandal was a transfer of certain oil leases from the jurisdiction of theDepartment of the Navy to that of the Department of the Interior, at Fall's behest.
Secretary of the InteriorJames G. Watt faced criticism for his alleged hostility to environmentalism, for his support of the development and use of federal lands by foresting, ranching, and other commercial interests, and for banningthe Beach Boys from playing a 1983 Independence Day concert on theNational Mall out of concerns of attracting "an undesirable element". His 1983 resignation was prompted by a speech in which he said about his staff: "I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent."[11][12]
Under the Administration of PresidentGeorge W. Bush, the Interior Department's maintenance backlog climbed from $5 billion to $8.7 billion, despite Bush's campaign pledges to eliminate it completely. Of the agency under Bush's leadership, Interior Department inspector generalEarl Devaney has cited a "culture of fear" and of "ethical failure." Devaney has also said, "Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of Interior."[13]
Launched in June 2021, theFederal Indian Boarding School InitiativeArchived August 4, 2024, at theWayback Machine intended to investigate federal Indian boarding school policies and multi-generational impacts of trauma on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children. Released in two volumes, the three year investigation produced the first report[14] in May 2022 and the second and final[15] volume in June 2024. The final report details the severe trauma and cultural disruption inflicted on Native American communities through these schools, which operated from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. It highlights the systemic abuse and neglect endured by students, finding 973 children died at the schools and calls for accountability and measures to address the ongoing impact on Native American families and communities to include working closely with tribal nations on the identification and repatriation of the remains.[16]
 | This articlemay need to be cleaned up. It has been merged fromFederal Consulting Group. |
The Federal Consulting Group was a part of the United States Department of the Interior until March 2025 when it was dissolved on the advice ofDepartment of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The group was paid to broker contracts for other parts of the federal government[17] as well as offering consulting, executive coaching, and performance and customer satisfaction measuring services to federal agencies.[18]
In 2009 it described itself as part of theNational Business Center of the DoI:
The Federal Consulting Group provides consultation services aimed at overcoming the organizational challenges of client offices. This is accomplished through assessment and construction of organizational logic models, amongst other methods. The Federal Consulting group consists of three divisions: Consulting, Executive Coaching, and Performance Measurement & Customer Satisfaction. The Consulting and Coaching divisions provide the services indicated by their titles, while the Performance Measurement & Customer Satisfaction division provides clients with access to theAmerican Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The ACSI allows federal offices to demonstrate compliance with the President's Management Agenda and the Government Performance and Results Act to the Administration and Congress.[19]
In April 2021, the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs entered into an agreement with Federal Consulting Group to oversee a needs assessment of the USAP as relates to allegations of sexual harassment and assault.[20]
The group's last address was 1849 C St. NW Room 4342, Washington, DC 20240-0001.[18]
Within the Interior Department, theBureau of Indian Affairs handles some federal relations with American Indians, while others are handled by the Office of Special Trustee. The current acting assistant secretary for Indian affairs is Bryan Newland, an enrolled member of theBay Mills Indian Community.
The department has been the subject of disputes over proper accounting for American Indian Trusts set up to track the income and distribution of monies that are generated by the trust and specific American Indian lands, which the government leases for fees to companies that extract oil, timber, minerals, and other resources. Several cases have sought an accounting of such funds from departments within the Interior and Treasury (such as the Minerals Management Service), in what has been a 15-year-old lawsuit. Some American Indian nations have also sued the government over water-rights issues and their treaties with the US. In 2010 Congress passed the Claims Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-291), which provided $3.4 billion for the settlement of theCobell v. Salazar class-action trust case and four American Indian water rights cases.[21][22]
On March 16, 2021,Deb Haaland, serving at that time as a member of Congress for New Mexico, took the oath of office as secretary, becoming the first American Indian to lead an executive department, and the third woman to lead the department.[23]
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DOI Convocation Honor Award is the most prestigious recognition that can be granted by the department.
The following awards are presented at the Honor Awards Convocation:[24]
In 2018, DOI established 12 organizational regions to be used across the department. These superseded the previous 49 regions used across 8 agencies.[25]
