U.S. Department of Interior

The goal of the Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee is to get input from tribal leaders on Department of the Interior issues impacting Indigenous communities before policy is made.

Colorado River water managers are facing a monumental task. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has asked seven western states to commit to an unprecedented amount of conservation and do it before a deadline later this summer. This comes amid shrinking water levels in the nation's largest reservoirs.

The Interior Department announced the distribution of $279 million to outdoor recreation and conservation projects across the U.S., with tens of millions of dollars going to states in the Mountain West.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau said the New Belen Wasteway, a Bureau of Reclamation project that routes agricultural runoff back to the Rio Grande, is an example of an investment in water infrastructure that has huge impacts on surrounding communities.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced two measures today to boost water levels in Lake Powell, keeping them high enough to continue generating hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam. Both moves are being framed as painful but necessary band-aids.One measure will send water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to help refill Lake Powell. About 500,000 acre-feet of water will be released from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which straddles the border between Wyoming and Utah. Another measure will reduce the amount of water sent downstream, withholding supplies from Lake Mead, a reservoir that provides storage for California, Arizona and Nevada.

The Interior Department is reopening lease sales on public lands. However, the agency announced that it was 80% less acreage than the oil and gas industry nominated for leasing. The Interior also increased royalty rates.

Lake Powell is is strained by more than two decades of drought, and its water levels are dipping dangerously low. The reservoir passed an important threshold. Water levels went below 3,525 feet – the last major milestone before a threat to hydropower generation at the Glen Canyon Dam. What's next for the nation's second-largest reservoir?

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recently announced she will remove some federal oversight from tribal water rules. A memorandum that dates back to 1975 required federal approvals for tribes to change their water codes, but now that’s no longer the case.

The Interior Department’s Deputy Secretary is visiting several places around the West to tout federal funding for wildland firefighting. That included a stop in Boise on Monday, where he toured the National Interagency Fire Center and attended a briefing on this year’s upcoming fire season.

Tribes, including many of those in the Colorado River basin, have some of the oldest water rights in the region, but often lack the infrastructure to use their full allotments. The new federal money is designed to fund the construction of reservoirs, pumping stations and clean drinking water systems that help tribes use more of the water they’re owed.