United States Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior
	Seal of the Department of the Interior
	Flag of the Secretary of the Interior
	Incumbent; Scott de la Vega ; Acting; since January 20, 2021
	United States Department of the Interior
Style	Mr./Madam Secretary; (informal); The Honorable; (formal)
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	President of the United States
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	President of the United States; with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	43 U.S.C. § 1451
Formation	March 3, 1849
First holder	Thomas Ewing
Succession	Eighth[1]
Deputy	United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level I
Website	www.doi.gov

The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, leading such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the National Park Service. The secretary also serves on and appoints the private citizens on the National Park Foundation Board. The secretary is a member of the United States Cabinet and reports to the president of the United States. The function of the U.S. Department of the Interior is different from that of the interior minister designated in many other countries.

As the policies and activities of the Department of the Interior and many of its agencies have a substantial impact in the Western United States,[2] the secretary of the interior has typically come from a western state; only one secretary since 1949, Rogers Morton, was not a resident or native of a state lying west of the Mississippi River.

The acting U.S. secretary of the interior is Scott de la Vega, who succeeded David Bernhardt, who resigned on January 20, 2021.

President Joe Biden has nominated U.S. representative Deb Haaland as the secretary of the interior, the first Native-American woman selected for the position.

Line of succession

The line of succession for the secretary of interior is as follows:[3]

Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Solicitor of the Interior
Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs
Director, Security, Safety, and Law Enforcement, Bureau of Reclamation
Central Region Director, US Geological Survey
Intermountain Regional Director, National Park Service
Region 6 (Mountain-Prairie Region) Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Colorado State Director, Bureau of Land Management
Regional Solicitor, Rocky Mountain Region

List of secretaries of the interior

Parties

Whig (3) Democratic (16) Republican (33)

Status

Denotes acting Secretary of the Interior

Number	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office
1	Thomas Ewing	Ohio	March 8, 1849	July 22, 1850	Zachary Taylor
1	Thomas Ewing	Ohio	March 8, 1849	July 22, 1850	Millard Fillmore
2	Thomas M. T. McKennan	Pennsylvania	August 15, 1850	August 26, 1850
3	Alexander H. H. Stuart	Virginia	September 14, 1850	March 7, 1853
4	Robert McClelland	Michigan	March 8, 1853	March 9, 1857	Franklin Pierce
5	Jacob Thompson	Mississippi	March 10, 1857	January 8, 1861	James Buchanan
6	Caleb B. Smith	Indiana	March 5, 1861	December 31, 1862	Abraham Lincoln
7	John P. Usher	Indiana	January 1, 1863	May 15, 1865	Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson
8	James Harlan	Iowa	May 16, 1865	August 31, 1866	Andrew Johnson
9	Orville H. Browning	Illinois	September 1, 1866	March 4, 1869	Andrew Johnson
10	Jacob D. Cox	Ohio	March 5, 1869	October 31, 1870	Ulysses S. Grant
11	Columbus Delano	Ohio	November 1, 1870	September 30, 1875
12	Zachariah Chandler	Michigan	October 19, 1875	March 11, 1877
13	Carl Schurz	Missouri	March 12, 1877	March 7, 1881	Rutherford B. Hayes
14	Samuel J. Kirkwood	Iowa	March 8, 1881	April 17, 1882	James A. Garfield
14	Samuel J. Kirkwood	Iowa	March 8, 1881	April 17, 1882	Chester A. Arthur
15	Henry M. Teller	Colorado	April 18, 1882	March 3, 1885	Chester A. Arthur
16	Lucius Q. C. Lamar II	Mississippi	March 6, 1885	January 10, 1888	Grover Cleveland
17	William F. Vilas	Wisconsin	January 16, 1888	March 6, 1889	Grover Cleveland
18	John W. Noble	Missouri	March 7, 1889	March 6, 1893	Benjamin Harrison
19	Hoke Smith	Georgia	March 6, 1893	September 1, 1896	Grover Cleveland
20	David R. Francis	Missouri	September 3, 1896	March 5, 1897	Grover Cleveland
21	Cornelius N. Bliss	New York	March 6, 1897	February 19, 1899	William McKinley
22	Ethan A. Hitchcock	Missouri	February 20, 1899	March 4, 1907	William McKinley
22	Ethan A. Hitchcock	Missouri	February 20, 1899	March 4, 1907	Theodore Roosevelt
23	James R. Garfield	Ohio	March 5, 1907	March 4, 1909	Theodore Roosevelt
24	Richard A. Ballinger	Washington	March 6, 1909	March 12, 1911	William Howard Taft
25	Walter L. Fisher	Illinois	March 13, 1911	March 5, 1913	William Howard Taft
26	Franklin K. Lane	California	March 6, 1913	February 29, 1920	Woodrow Wilson
–	Alexander T. Vogelsang Acting	California	February 29, 1920	March 13, 1920
27	John B. Payne	Illinois	March 15, 1920	March 4, 1921
28	Albert B. Fall	New Mexico	March 5, 1921	March 4, 1923	Warren G. Harding
29	Hubert Work	Colorado	March 5, 1923	July 24, 1928	Warren G. Harding
29	Hubert Work	Colorado	March 5, 1923	July 24, 1928	Calvin Coolidge
30	Roy O. West	Illinois	July 25, 1928	March 4, 1929	Calvin Coolidge
31	Ray Lyman Wilbur	California	March 5, 1929	March 4, 1933	Herbert Hoover
32	Harold L. Ickes	Illinois	March 4, 1933	February 15, 1946	Franklin D. Roosevelt
32	Harold L. Ickes	Illinois	March 4, 1933	February 15, 1946	Harry S. Truman
–	Oscar L. Chapman Acting	Colorado	February 15, 1946	March 18, 1946
33	Julius A. Krug	Wisconsin	March 18, 1946	December 1, 1949
34	Oscar L. Chapman	Colorado	December 1, 1949	January 20, 1953
35	Douglas McKay	Oregon	January 21, 1953	April 15, 1956	Dwight D. Eisenhower
–	Clarence A. Davis Acting	Nebraska	April 15, 1956	June 8, 1956
36	Fred A. Seaton	Nebraska	June 8, 1956	January 20, 1961
37	Stewart L. Udall	Arizona	January 21, 1961	January 20, 1969	John F. Kennedy
37	Stewart L. Udall	Arizona	January 21, 1961	January 20, 1969	Lyndon B. Johnson
38	Walter J. Hickel	Alaska	January 24, 1969	November 25, 1970	Richard Nixon
–	Fred J. Russell Acting	California	November 25, 1970	January 29, 1971
39	Rogers C. B. Morton	Maryland	January 29, 1971	April 30, 1975
39	Rogers C. B. Morton	Maryland	January 29, 1971	April 30, 1975	Gerald Ford
–	D. Kent Frizzell Acting	Kansas	April 30, 1975	June 12, 1975
40	Stanley K. Hathaway	Wyoming	June 12, 1975	October 9, 1975
–	D. Kent Frizzell Acting	Kansas	October 9, 1975	October 17, 1975
41	Thomas S. Kleppe	North Dakota	October 17, 1975	January 20, 1977
–	Alfred G. Albert Acting		January 20, 1977	January 23, 1977	Jimmy Carter
42	Cecil D. Andrus	Idaho	January 23, 1977	January 20, 1981	Jimmy Carter
43	James G. Watt	Colorado	January 23, 1981	November 8, 1983	Ronald Reagan
–	J. J. Simmons III Acting	New Jersey	November 8, 1983	November 18, 1983
44	William P. Clark	California	November 18, 1983	February 7, 1985
45	Donald P. Hodel	Virginia	February 8, 1985	January 20, 1989
–	Earl E. Gjelde Acting	Virginia	January 20, 1989	February 3, 1989	George H. W. Bush
46	Manuel Lujan Jr.	New Mexico	February 3, 1989	January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
47	Bruce E. Babbitt	Arizona	January 22, 1993	January 12, 2001	Bill Clinton
–	Thomas N. Slonaker Acting	Arizona	January 12, 2001	January 31, 2001	Bill Clinton
–	Thomas N. Slonaker Acting	Arizona	January 12, 2001	January 31, 2001	George W. Bush
48	Gale A. Norton	Colorado	January 31, 2001	March 31, 2006
–	Lynn Scarlett Acting	California	April 1, 2006	May 26, 2006
49	Dirk Kempthorne	Idaho	May 29, 2006	January 19, 2009
-	Lynn Scarlett Acting	California	January 19, 2009	January 20, 2009
-	Lynn Scarlett Acting	California	January 19, 2009	January 20, 2009	Barack Obama
50	Ken Salazar	Colorado	January 20, 2009	April 12, 2013
51	Sally Jewell	Washington	April 12, 2013[4]	January 20, 2017
–	Kevin Haugrud Acting		January 20, 2017	March 1, 2017	Donald Trump
52	Ryan Zinke	Montana	March 1, 2017	January 2, 2019
53	David Bernhardt	Colorado	January 2, 2019	April 11, 2019
53	David Bernhardt	Colorado	April 11, 2019	January 20, 2021
–	Scott de la Vega Acting		January 20, 2021		Joe Biden
–	Deb Haaland	New Mexico	Nominee	—	Joe Biden

Living former secretaries of the interior

The former flag of the United States Secretary of the Interior, which was used from 1917 to 1934

As of February 2021, eight former secretaries of the interior are alive (with all secretaries that have served since 1993 still living), the oldest being Donald P. Hodel (served 1985–1989, born 1935). The most recent to die was Manuel Lujan Jr. (served 1989–1993, born 1928), on April 25, 2019. He was also the most recently serving secretary to die.

Name	Term of office	Date of birth (and age)
James G. Watt	1981–1983	(1938-01-31) January 31, 1938
Donald P. Hodel	1985–1989	(1935-05-23) May 23, 1935
Bruce E. Babbitt	1993–2001	(1938-06-27) June 27, 1938
Gale A. Norton	2001–2006	(1954-03-11) March 11, 1954
Dirk Kempthorne	2006–2009	(1951-10-29) October 29, 1951
Ken Salazar	2009–2013	(1955-03-02) March 2, 1955
Sally Jewell	2013–2017	(1956-02-21) February 21, 1956
Ryan Zinke	2017–2019	(1961-11-01) November 1, 1961
David Bernhardt	2019–2021	(1969-08-17) August 17, 1969

References

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/19
Salazar, Vilsack: The West's New Land Lords Archived December 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
"Chapter 3: SECRETARIAL SUCCESSION (2) - Laserfiche WebLink". elips.doi.gov. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
"About Secretary Jewell". U.S. Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved May 23, 2013.

External links

U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by TBD	Order of Precedence of the United States as Secretary of the Interior	Succeeded by TBD as Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded by Attorney General TBD	8th in line	Succeeded by Secretary of Agriculture TBD

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[1] ttps://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/19

[2] Salazar, Vilsack: The West's New Land Lords Archived December 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

[3] "Chapter 3: SECRETARIAL SUCCESSION (2) - Laserfiche WebLink". elips.doi.gov. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

[4] "About Secretary Jewell". U.S. Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved May 23, 2013.

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