DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Department   of   the   Interior.The   cabinet-level   department   of   the   federal   government

responsible for managing the nation’s public lands and minerals, national parks, national wildlife

refuges,  and  western  water  resources,  and  for  upholding  federal  trust  responsibilities  to  Indian

tribes.  •  The  Department  also  has  responsibility  for  migratory-wildlife  conservation;  historical

preservation; endangered species; surface-mined-lands preservation and restoration; mapping; and

geological, hydrological, and biological science. It was created in 1849 and reorganized in 1950.

Headed by  the Secretary  of the  Interior, it administers several agencies, including the  Bureau  of

Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S.

Geological Survey. — Also termed Interior Department. [Cases: Public Lands    94. C.J.S. Public

Lands §§ 167–168.][Blacks Law 8th]