d Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Minerals Management Service, the National Park Service, the Office of Surface Mining, the Office of Insular Affairs, and the Office of the Secretary. Gale Norton, a lifelong conservationist, public servant and advocate for bringing common sense solutions to environmental policy, was confirmed as the 48th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior on a bipartisan U.S. Senate vote in January 2001. Secretary Norton is the first female to head the 151-year-old federal agency. Norton, served as Attorney General of Colorado from 1991 to 1999. In that capacity, she represented virtually every agency of the Colorado state government. She argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts, and testified numerous times before congressional committees.Norton also served as Chair of the Environment Committee for the National Association of Attorneys General. A nationally recognized public policy leader, Norton was appointed by President George Bush to the Western Water Policy Commission. She also worked as Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture and, from 1979 to 1983, as a Senior Attorney for the Mountain States Legal Foundation.Norton graduated magna cum laude from the University of Denver in 1975 and earned her law degree with honors from the same university in 1978. The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the management of nearly half a billion acres of federal lands. This includes the entire National Park System and vast tracts of federal lands, mostly in the western regions of the country. It is also the Secretarys responsibility to enforce laws that protect threatened and endangered species and that govern the management of national wildlife refuges. Another very important responsibility is to work closely with Indian Tribal leaders to insure that reservations receive adequate economic, education...
