Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar

Name: Ken Salazar

Official Title: United States Secretary of the Interior

Department: United States Department of the Interior

I Oversee:

National Parks/Monuments:

My department's primary concern involves the preservation and care of 388 national parks and monuments through the National Park Service. In total, the Department of the Interior has jurisdiction over 1/5 of the total amount of land in the United States.

Wildlife Refugees:

There are over 500 wildlife refugees that must be managed in the US through Fish and Wildlife Service.

Dams/Reserviors:

The Bureau of Reclamation tends to almost 800 national dams and reserviors.

Federal Relationship with Native Americans:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is stationed within the Department of the Interior. The Bureau's main activity is proportioning trusts and funds to Native American lands and tribes.

This is the structure of the Department of the Interior:

*on a side note, the Department of the Interior is often called the "Department of Everything Else," for its many miscellaneous functions.

Quote:

"With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, most citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our "representatives" don't represent the public, the foundations of democracy are in peril."

I am worried about the faithfulness representatives have to their subjects. I believe that one who has been elected to a position of power should always follow the will of his/her people, but lobbying and media issues have distracted those in power from their proper roles. Representatives should pay special attention to their people, not to lobbyists, special interest groups, or media hype.

A keynote speech from Powershift in 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDoU9-fpffQ&safety_mode=true&persist_sa
fety_mode=1