Skift Take
From her opposition to the fossil fuel industry to spearheading bipartisan legislation protecting public lands, Congresswoman Deb Haaland has shown she’s a fierce protector of America’s natural resources. As future Interior Secretary, she could be a giant boost for the sustainable development of outdoor travel post-Covid.
If confirmed by the Senate as head of the U.S. Department of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland would become the first Native American to hold a cabinet position in the history of the United States. She would also become the first Native American to oversee the management and conservation of U.S. natural resources, wildlife and cultural heritage, including 480 million acres of public lands, plus 85 million acres under the U.S. National Parks system.
She would also oversee the historically politically charged relationship between the U.S. government and Native American tribes.
Within this sweeping context, Haaland's progressive agenda is leaving many in the tourism and travel industry focused on outdoor spaces emboldened after years of worry under a Trump Administration whose policies threatened public lands.
Haaland’s nomination comes on the heels of the Skift Short-Term & Outdoor Summit and the panel discussion surrounding the surge in outdoor tourism on Public Lands since Covid, and the importance of including tribes in the co-management of tourism in the American West.
“It’s an incredible step to have a native woman run the agency who oversees the management of public and tribal lands,” Len Necefer, founder of Natives Outdoors, who sat on the panel, told Skift. “Hopefully it will be the first step toward honoring treaty obligations and honoring the trust-responsibility agreement that the federal government has with native nations.”
Haaland’s background as a single mom who once survived on food stamps and co
