Nationwide Rivers Inventory Update 2024

New River | Credit: NPS

In 2024, the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) completed a federal lands update of the Nationwide Rivers Inventory (NRI).

The update integrated readily available planning information from an array of wild and scenic river-administering agencies including regional NPS staff, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

The update removed 320 miles of rivers that have been designated as wild and scenic rivers, updated attribute information for existing NRI river segments, corrected existing geospatial data to reflect river shape and mileage more accurately, and added approximately 1,300 segments (nearly 10,000 miles) to the NRI.

The update brought the total number of segments to just under 4,500, and the total mileage in the NRI to approximately 90,000 miles.

As part of the effort, NPS released a new online interactive map where users can Explore the Nationwide Rivers Inventory.

DOI Economic Report for 2015

The U.S. Department of the Interior recently released its Economic Report for Fiscal Year 2015.

The report highlights a variety of Interior investments in recreation, conservation, water, and renewable energy.

According to the report, DOI investments led to $106 billion in economic output, and supported 862,000 jobs.

The report includes information regarding the economic and culture value of U.S. public lands.

The report found that national parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, and other public lands managed by Interior hosted an estimated 443 million visits, supporting $45 billion in economic output and about 396,000 jobs.

In total, the report identifies about $300 billion in economic output and 1.8 million jobs supported through Interior’s activities including: tourism and outdoor recreation at parks, monuments and refuges, water management, energy and mineral development on public lands and waters, wildlife conservation, hunting and fishing, support for American Indian tribal communities and U.S. island territories, as well as scientific research and innovation endeavors.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell noted that many of Interior’s activities have economic values that are not easily calculated, and are not included in the report’s totals.

“Much of the value of our lands and historic sites cannot be expressed in dollars,” said Secretary Jewell. “Beyond their contributions to clean air, clean water and wildlife habitat, many are priceless treasures that belong to all Americans and help define our cultural heritage for present and future generations.”

The DOI report differs from other economic contribution studies in that it is a comprehensive analysis of the economic impacts from DOI activities. This report includes data from reports produced by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS) that focus on impacts from specific agencies and activities.

A separate economic analysis of the U.S. outdoor recreation sector is being compiled by the Federal Recreation Council and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

That report will document the industry’s value and contributions to the national economy, specifically shedding light on the role public lands and waters play, and will develop a baseline for informing future decision-making, governance and long-term management of public lands and waters.

source: U.S. Department of the Interior