** Biden’s Interior budget spotlights conservation
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Monday, April 12, 2021
Trail Building on Bridger-Teton National Forest, U.S. Forest Service ([link removed])

On Friday, the Biden administration released its 2022 budget proposal for the Interior Department ([link removed]) . The initial budget request of $17.4 billion is 16.3% higher than the department's enacted fiscal 2021 funding level. The budget proposal highlights the administration's climate, jobs, and conservation priorities.

Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement ([link removed]) , "President Biden's funding request provides much-needed resources to Tribal Nations, prioritizes racial justice and equity, and invests in healthy lands, waters, and a clean energy economy that will create good-paying jobs."

The budget lays out an intended $200 million investment in science-based conservation ([link removed]) , which would support the goal of protecting 30% of America's lands and waters by 2030.

Additional spending items include ([link removed]) $4 billion for Interior tribal programs, $20 million to expand National Park Service access, $550 million to clean up abandoned mines and orphaned oil and gas wells, and a $550 million-increase from 2021 levels to research and implement climate change solutions.


** Can a wildlife refuge help a community’s fight for environmental justice?
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South of Albuquerque, industrial sewage plants and paint facilities have created a legacy of air pollution, contaminated groundwater, and Superfund sites. But Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge ([link removed]) , an urban wildlife refuge, could help change that. Learn ([link removed]) how a collaborative local process helped designate the new refuge, which is driving community benefits, protecting local health, and demonstrating how protecting nature can serve all Americans.
Quick hits


** Four Corners area blossoming into outdoor recreation destination thanks to plentiful public lands
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Albuquerque Journal ([link removed])


** Western snowpack warns that 20-year drought will persist and intensify
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Inside Climate News ([link removed])


** "Someone decided it was OK to poison us:" Firms drilling for oil in California neighborhoods face few restrictions
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Mother Jones ([link removed])


** The Grand Canyon has a uranium mine next door, which may be scarring the canyon and polluting tribal water sources
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Daily Beast ([link removed])


** Biden poised to expand Bears Ears and Grand Staircase monuments—but by how much? Secretary Haaland visited Utah to hear answers from tribes and communities
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed]) | Inside Climate News ([link removed])


** Colorado River Basin tribes seek unified voice with policy talks gearing up
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KUNC ([link removed])


** ‘Suddenly I’m breathing:’ hope as Haaland takes on crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans
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Guardian ([link removed])


** Opinion: Time to make protecting public lands a priority
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Las Cruces Sun News ([link removed])
Quote of the day
What we expect out of the Biden administration is true consultation, true listening to tribes, to be part of the solution."

—Fort Yuma-Quechan Tribe’s president Jordan Joaquin, K ([link removed]) UNC ([link removed])
Picture this


** @I ([link removed]) nterior ([link removed])
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Whooo let the kids out? Whoo whoo whoo! A burrowing owl family greets the day at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge . Pic courtesy of Wendy Miller #California ([link removed])

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