U.S. Department of the Interior:
Protecting the Nation's Coral Reefs
May 2002

Since its creation in 1849, the Department of the Interior (DOI) has evolved to become the Nation's principal conservation agency. DOI has jurisdiction over about 450 million acres of Federal lands and about 3 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf. DOI is also responsible for migratory wildlife conservation, historic preservation, water management, protection of endangered species, and providing the Nation with reliable, impartial scientific information for sound resource decisionmaking. DOI has trust responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska Natives; administrative responsibility for coordinating Federal policy in the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and oversight of Federal programs and funds in the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. DOI's land management, resource protection, and trust responsibilities are met through hundreds of programs and activities conducted by its eight bureaus.