President-elect Joe Biden has chosen New Mexico’s Deb Haaland, a Democratic representative and enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, to lead his administration’s Department of the Interior.
If confirmed by the Senate, her role will be historic, as she will be the first Native American to serve in the role.
The Department of Interior oversees tribal lands as part of its management of America’s natural resources and has historically had a strained relationship with Indigenous tribes largely because of a long history of violence against Native Americans perpetrated by the federal government.
Before Haaland’s nomination, tribal groups called for her to be selected to lead the Department of Interior.
“It is long past time that a Native American person serve as secretary of the interior,” said a letter signed by 130 tribal leaders before Haaland’s nomination. They wrote that she was “ready” for the job.
The letter continued, “Representative Haaland has championed the environment, helped lead efforts to address climate change and worked to improve the nation-to-nation relationship between our tribes and the United States.”
Haaland is chairwoman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands of the House Natural Resources Committee. She also is a member of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States in that same committee.
The Natural Resources Committee chairman, Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., is one of many members of Congress who supported Haaland’s nomination; several congressional Democrats from both progressive and moderate circles signed a letter calling for her to be nominated.
Haaland was first elected to Congress in 2018 and won reelection last month. During her congressional career, she has sponsored and cosponsored a number of bills. Many of those saw her working across the aisle; Haaland signed on to several bills with Cortez Republican Rep. Scott Tipton.
Tipton’s district encompasses the land of Colorado’s two federally recognized tribes, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes. Many of the bills he cosponsored with Haaland were focused toward supporting Native Americans.
Her work across the aisle garnered Haaland a reputation as an effective legislator and earned her support from some Republican colleagues as well. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, reportedly supported her for the role.
“As secretary of the interior, (Rep. Haaland) would not only make history as the first Native American to serve in that role, but would pour her passion into the job every single day,” Young said.
If confirmed, Haaland will take the helm of a department that has been subject to a number of controversies during President Donald Trump’s time in office; several of his appointees overseeing public lands, including current Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, have connections to fossil fuel industries, and others have advocated in favor of selling off public lands.
Trump’s appointees have also pushed for stripping protections from a variety of public lands including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah.
Through its various bureaus and departments, the Department of Interior manages 20% of the country’s land, including large sections of western Colorado and New Mexico.
If confirmed to the role after Biden takes office, Haaland would be responsible for overseeing agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which is currently headquartered in Grand Junction.
John Purcell is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.