Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America | |
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Seal of the U.S. Department of the Interior
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Flag of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior
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United States Department of the Interior | |
Style | Mr. Secretary |
Member of | Cabinet |
Reports to | The President |
Seat | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | No fixed term |
Constituting instrument | 43 U.S.C. § 1451 |
Formation | March 3, 1849 |
First holder | Thomas Ewing |
Succession | Eighth |
Deputy | Deputy Secretary of the Interior |
Salary | Executive Schedule, level 1 |
Website | www.DOI.gov |
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The U.S. Department of the Interior is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources; it oversees such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Geological Survey, and the National Park Service. The Secretary also serves on and appoints the private citizens on the National Park Foundation board. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet.
The U.S. Department of the Interior should not be confused with the Ministries of the Interior as used in many other countries. Ministries of the Interior in these other countries correspond primarily to the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. Cabinet and secondarily to the Department of Justice.
Because the policies and activities of the Department of the Interior and many of its agencies have a substantial impact in the western United States, the Secretary of the Interior has typically come from a western state; only one of the individuals to hold the office since 1949 is not identified with a state lying west of the Mississippi River.
On December 13, 2016, President Donald Trump picked Ryan Zinke for the position of Interior Secretary.