As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of these through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources to assure that their development is in the best interest of all our people. The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S. administration.

Transcriber’s Notes

• Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.
• Relocated all image captions to be immediately under the corresponding images, removing references like “preceding page”.
• Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
• In the text versions only, text in italic font is delimited by _underscores_.