amna: One of the legacies president Biden leaves behind when he exits the white house is his record on conserving and protecting the country's public lands and water.

Deb Haaland, Biden's secretary of the interior, played a key role in implementing his policies over the last four years and I spoke with her earlier this week.

Secretary Haaland, welcome to the "News hour."

It's great to have you here in person.

Sec.

Haaland: So happy to be here.

Amna: So, as the very first native person ever to serve as cabinet secretary, United States history, we should point out you were leading a department that once worked to remove indigenous people from their land.

And I know a lot has been written about how you wanted to use this role to really examine and grapple with our history here in America.

A big part of this was the work you did looking into the actual work governments did to separate indigenous children from their families, put them into boarding schools, strip them of their history and language and culture.

When president Biden issued an apology for these actions, what was that moment like for you?

What stays with you?

Sec.

Haaland: Absolutely.

Yes, that was absolutely an historic moment.

And sitting in the crowd listening to the president with my fellow indigenous friends and relatives around me, it was very profound.

Now, we finished that second report for the boarding school initiative and we put a list of recommendations.

And no sooner did we get that out and over to the white house that the white house called us and said the president wants to make an apology.

So, he immediately felt the need to be out there and following our recommendations.

So we were all very pleased.

And, of course, it's important because, as I always say, native American history is American history.

And we all need to, as Americans, we all need to heal from these tragic moments in our history.

And so the healing part of what we have done, we hope, is what really comes of all of the work that we accomplished on this issue.

Amna: I know the transition process has begun.

You've had conversations, I assume, with your nominated successor, Doug burgum.

Has this issue come up?

Sec.

Haaland: So, I haven't actually had any conversations with the incoming secretary, although I do want to point out that the mission of the department of the interior does not change.

It's the same mission throughout history that we were dedicated to.

So we can hope that the 65,000 career staff who remain at the department, even though I'm leaving, will move so many of the issues that we found important enough to work on forward.

Amna: The mission may not change, but I think it's fair to say it is being redefined with the way the incoming administration has laid it out.

Doug burgum is said to be taking on a much more expansive role, much more energy focused as well.

He's going to have a seat on the national security council.

How concerned are you that a lot of the work you've done on climate, on preservation of public lands, that that could be undone?

Sec.

Haaland: So, there is a lot that can never be undone.

President Biden's investing in America agenda that essentially moved $45 billion to our nation's Indian tribes for climate resilience, for landscape restoration, for infrastructure, all of those things are in process and they're getting done.

Billions of dollars went to cleaning up legacy pollution sites across the country, and that work has also been ongoing.

There is so much that could never be undone because the work is getting completed.

Our clean energy transition, moving forward, president Biden asked for 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

We're more than halfway there in less than half the time.

So we have really moved the needle on a clean energy transition, on legacy pollution, on Indian country.

And so, we feel good about the opportunities that remain for all of those sectors.

Amna: At this moment of transition, I need to ask you to look back slightly, because in the past you have called Mr. Trump a threat to democracy.

You did cite his election as your inspiration to run for office in the very first place.

It was in 2018 that you and Kansas congresswoman Sharice Davids made history as the first native American women elected to congress ever.

I have to ask you, now that he's won, he's about to be sworn in for his next term, what is this moment like for you?

Sec.

Haaland: So, of course, I when I first got to the department of the interior, it was very exciting.

Four years seemed like a really long time to get so much of our agenda completed.

Now, with just a few days left, of course, I'm feeling a little sad to leave my colleagues, but I know that we worked so hard and we got a tremendous amount accomplished.

I have to believe that our best days are ahead of us.

And, you know, administrations come and go, the voices of the American people who want to conserve these beautiful natural resources that we have, those voices will continue.

Yes, I am always going to be involved.

And I feel confident that that my voice was important in this administration and it will be important in the future as well.

Amna: What's ahead for you?

What's next?

Sec.

Haaland: I'm going to go back to New Mexico.

I'm looking forward to some enchiladas with red chili, quite frankly.

But, you know, we have an amazing group of political appointees that my colleagues that I served with at the department, we're all sort of spreading out to do some amazing things.

And so I look forward to staying in touch with all of them and absolutely advocating for the things we know we need for our planet.

Amna: Deb Haaland, outgoing secretary of the interior.

Madam secretary, thank you so much for being here.

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