Next Interior Memos weekly digest, 2025-11-13

The big news late this week is, of course, that the shutdown has ended. It means our parks, wildlife, and public lands will have the people of Interior—those who are still left after the slash-and-burn tactics of this administration—coming back to carry forth the mission and get paid to do it. Some energy, minerals, and water work continued during the shutdown, perhaps more slowly, but more staff will be back at it now. Science, always in the crosshairs of this administration, and the work of building knowledge about the resources managed for the country, will be resuming. And while some of the work of Indian Country continued without interruption—like in Bureau of Indian Education schools because of their two-year appropriations—more can get back underway now. 

• Bonus read for feds: When will back pay come? USAToday timeline (and just before pressing Publish, I saw this from GovExec)

But as the NPR headline linked above notes, not everything is back to normal…in so many ways. As noted on Monday, society still has to reckon with an Executive Branch that is happy to flout the law if they want to. The civil servants at Interior now have to brace for the potential of reductions in force in February, or being taken hostage again. But we shouldn’t get down about it, we should get active…there’s a lot of work to be done! Here are a few news items that matter now and will matter ever more for the Department:

Natural & cultural resources

While parks and related issues have been top of mind of late—including with new polling from NPCA on public opposition to park funding cuts—the resource of today’s focus is water and Interior’s role. The news is that the seven Colorado River states failed to meet the Trump administration’s deadline this week for an agreement for how they will manage the River’s waters so that everyone is happy. (I can’t put my hands on the story/stories I read when this deadline was established, but I remember all noting that it was completely unreasonable…which, yeah, this is not an easy problem). Especially in the day and age of climate change and earlier water agreements that were based on very different climatological conditions…but it’s a problem that has to be solved. 

I don’t know what the answer will be except that Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation will have to take the lead in resolving it. My hunch is that the proposals from the Great Basin Water Network, which Jonathan Thompson describes nicely at The Land Desk, would be more likely to succeed at helping minimize conflict. There’s a lot to like in there, from the standpoint of a strong future Interior: getting states to develop and implement curtailment plans, curtailing junior rights holders’ usage to ensure Tribes’ rights are met first, and accounting for changing climate since the old baselines aren’t valid now or going forward. Keep an eye on this!

Science & knowledge

A lot of attention is on climate change with COP 30 going on down in Belem, Brazil this week into next week. On the science front there have been a couple of not-so-great (=bad) reports the past few days on missing temperature rise targets, which will harm and kill not only untold numbers of people, but also lots of species and ecosystems that will have nowhere to go as their climate envelopes disappear. Through all of this there has been a misperception—especially because of disinformation amplified by industry and those who really know nothing of the science of climate change—that addressing climate change means hampering the economy. That’s not true, and I thought it would be good to share this short overview from The Conversation about how US emissions have declined (hint: mostly from the power generation sector) while economic growth has continued apace in recent decades. Whether it’s climate science from Interior’s scientists, or land and resource managers using climate science to make decisions—see the section above on the Colorado River—climate change is and will remain critical to the Department.

Tribes

The most pressing Tribal issue to note this week actually had a deadline pass already—I think most folks didn’t realize until Wednesday that it was even happening. The US Department of Energy only provided 16 days for public comment on a proposed rule that will allow hydropower development companies to run roughshod over Tribes by guaranteeing “initial” permits are granted even if they haven’t engaged and consulted with the Tribes. What could matter more to Tribal sovereignty than the ability to say “No” to how their lands are used and water rights impacted? And that was the key message from the 21 Tribes of the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona; read their letter here. Just another predatory action from this administration. 

While this is outside of Interior’s direct authority, a future Interior must help agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, like all parts of the United States Government, understand they too have the same commitments to Tribes. Heck, the current Interior should be doing this!

A few more matters

While the end of the shutdown may mean that the RIF case we’ve been tracking with Tony Irish’s help is dead (for now), Tony has kindly been keeping an eye on corruption—or at least very questionable actions—from the Office of the Secretary.

If you are interested in Interior out West—which is a big deal—you should follow Westwise from the Center for Western Priorities. Today’s main story, like one from Public Domain, digs deeper into the background for the nominee to head the Bureau of Land Management, Steve Pearce.

Lots of work underway preparing for the 250th Anniversary celebration for the United States. I thought this piece on Ken Burns and other documentarians engaging with Tribal nations and Cherokee Film to include Native Americans’ role in the Revolutionary War was a hopeful sign of better recounting of history. 

• And speaking of “250”, I’m excited to be in DC tomorrow for Summit 250, a meeting / workshop to work with some great folks on what it takes to build an accountable government, and what is needed For 250 More. Look forward to sharing from the meeting next week!

Join us!

Also next week, we’ll do a short webinar on Interior’s Contributions, our app and fact sheets on Interior’s lands and waters, science centers, and key Tribal resources. If you’d like to learn more, please feel free to join us: