 Wonderful. Well, good morning. Thank you so much for being here today. I was telling a group earlier that one of the parts of being a congresswoman that I'm adjusting to is that when I reach out to people and ask them to come to Vermont, important people come. And I'm so excited that Secretary Deb Haaland has decided to spend some time with us here in Vermont. It's been such a joy to have the time with her this morning talking about the outdoors in Vermont and how it relates not just to our economy, but our sense of well-being for all of us, especially our youth. And I'm so grateful that Secretary Haaland and President Biden has been supporting the Northern Forest Initiative to the tune of $25 million that is going to help us and the other northern states here in New England to consistently and with great focus tackle climate change, which I know is top of mind for all of us in Vermont, especially over the last few days. This is feeling more like August than July in Vermont. It's been incredibly hot. Of course, we've been dealing with the smoke from the wildfires as well. And it is so important to talk about conservation, but also how do we preserve the natural environment so that we can continue to enjoy it as Vermonters is one of the things that that we enjoy most about living here in this most beautiful state. And the natural world, as I've mentioned before, both as a state senator and now as a congresswoman, the natural world is part of our mental health well-being as well. And we want to make sure that we can do everything that we can to make sure that it is a safe, vibrant place for all of us to be out in. Now, it is so critically important to all of us to think about the health of the lake here as we are standing here. And I know we heard this morning from a roundtable that we did with people who work within the outdoor recreation field talking about how the lake also has to be part of our focus here. And Senator Welch and I and Senator Sanders are going to continue to figure out how to bring investments back to Vermont to help us with that very troubling situation as well. It's integral to the health and well-being of Vermonters and our ecosystem and our economic system as well. So at this time, I'm going to introduce my colleague who will will speak to all of you about his experience in in the Senate and also in the House in working with Secretary Holland and and what it means for us to have her here with us today. Senator Welch. Thank you, Becca. Secretary Holland, it's so wonderful to have a 35th generation New Mexican visit Vermont for her first time. It really is wonderful. First of all, Vermont is so much about the working landscape and access to the outdoors for people who want to get the benefit of living in that landscape. And we had just had a roundtable with several groups that are doing everything from making bike trails, the lake for sailing, the the hot the hot system that we want to develop possible and accessible to all Vermonters. And the funds that have come to Vermont through the Investing in America Act are going to facilitate that work that is going to be so meaningful for so many generations to so many Vermonters. And that is absolutely essential that we commit ourselves in Vermont to sustaining access to the outdoors, the value that we have on being custodians and stewards of the landscape and fully appreciating the obligation we have to make this something that is available to Vermonters for generations to come. And the funds that that Bernie and Becca and I fight in Washington to bring back to Vermont to help our partners here are absolutely essential to that. But the real hard work is done by local Vermonters to do in everything they can to make this resource this beautiful state that we enjoy available for the mental health for the physical health and for the environmental stewardship that's our responsibility. One of the things I think the secretary may talk about is our commitment to reforestation. As you all know, we just had the three hottest days in the history of the world. This argument about whether climate change is real or is not is long gone. What we now face is the practical steps that we can take as quickly as possible that is going to help us address the absolute urgent challenge of climate change. And the work that we're doing with Forest is a major and significant contributor to how we can address climate change in the long term. Secretary Helen was my colleague in the house. It was Becca's colleague in the house and there was just an enormous sense of exhilaration when the President Biden appointed her to be the first Native American to serve as Secretary of the Interior. She's a person that has a soft voice in the strength of a pioneer. She is someone who is extremely well respected on both sides of the aisle in the house focused on getting things done and that value that she has lived all her life as a person of the outdoors, the steward of the outdoors, the Native American who's had the outdoors stolen from that community. We're so proud to have her here and want to express to her how much we value the work that she's doing. So I now introduce to you the Secretary of Interior, Secretary Deb Hallen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Senator. That was a very kind introduction and thank you Representative Baylent for welcoming me to your beautiful district. It is truly wonderful and we had a chance to walk around the city a little bit last night and of course we got creamies because that's the thing to do when you're in Burlington. So today though we're here to talk about how President Biden's Investing in America agenda provides historic funding to address the climate crisis. We know that families in Vermont are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Winter is starting later, rainstorms are more intense and summers are warmer and warmer sooner as the congresswoman mentioned. As the climate crisis worsens and biodiversity slips away strengthening our response to disappearing species and habitat loss is crucial if we're to leave behind a livable planet for future generations. These priorities are at the core of the Biden Harris administration's all of government approach to addressing the climate crisis and protecting the species that all of us depend on. Our investing in America agenda is putting resources where they can truly make a difference. The Inflation Reduction Act is the most significant legislation in U.S. history to tackle the climate crisis. Thanks to an extraordinary 25 million dollar investment the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has new funding for a significant landscape conservation approach for a climate resilient northern forest. This investment will provide for the development and implementation of a collaborative cross-jurisdictional conservation plan across northern tier forests in 10 states including right here in Vermont and it will improve infrastructure and habitat to be more climate resilient in the Midwest and northeast regions. The northern forest ecosystem provides critical habitat for wildlife and outdoor recreation. As all nature is the northern forest will be an ally as we address the climate crisis by restoring balance to nature. Restoring and protecting bottom land hardwood forest helps to increase resilience to flooding from large storm events. It improves water quality in forest health. It increases public safety and improves public access. The best way to accomplish these outcomes is to work together because we know collaborative conservation absolutely works and that's why efforts in this region will be developed in close collaboration with state agencies and Indian tribes and will use indigenous knowledge gained over millennia by the original stewards of these lands. This type of collaborative conservation is at the heart of the America the Beautiful Initiative a decade-long challenge to pursue locally led and voluntary efforts to conserve, connect and restore the lands waters and wildlife upon which we all depend. This morning we met with members of the outdoor recreation community who know firsthand the value of this work. The outdoor recreation is a powerhouse for our nation's economy which generated $862 billion in 2021. Right here in Vermont that included $1.5 billion in the state's GDP and provided for 14,582 jobs. Conservation isn't just critical for our landscapes but it also ensures access to the outdoors for folks regardless of their income or backgrounds. It creates and sustains local economies. We all have a vested interest in its success. While I'm here I'll have a chance to see where partnerships and collaboration have made conservation of that area a success. With funding from the Inflation Reduction Act coming to the Northern Forest not only will we protect these special landscapes that make these communities so beautiful but we will also help address the climate crisis and support local economies. Thank you so much for coming today and I believe Felicia will help us to manage some questions. Well of course we have we have amazing and wonderful partners we also have a terrific and dedicated career staff on the ground and so as to the specific programs we're happy to get in touch with you about the specific things that this funding will will address. However I do want to say that it's important that we are connecting with the local the local folks on the ground here. We want to make sure that we are doing things right and you can only do that if you're in connection with the people who live here who know the landscape who understand what exactly we need to do but restoration on these landscapes is critical as I said in my remarks not only for the animals and the ecosystem but also for safety and access to these areas. Hello I'm Kyla Hastie and I'm the Acting Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Northeast Region. So these funds are going to be used across a 10 state area and as the Secretary said they're going to be used to develop a landscape conservation plan to look at the entire northern forest and so that's you know Vermont as well as these other 10 states to make sure that we're making a down payment now for the future and really thinking about the long-term investments. It also we're going to do more forest inventory we need to understand better how are these systems changing with climate and so understanding better what do we have now what do we want the future to look like and how can we then manage sustainably going forward and then finally we're going to be putting projects on the ground we're working right now with our state partners to help identify the most important places where we can be doing stream restoration work because you know some of these forests are degraded with roads or stream crossings that may not allow for flow of water that you know comes into Lake Champlain or into the Great Lakes and so trying to make sure that we're creating fish passage so we can bring fish back improve water quality also very important for carbon sequestration and so really looking at at that as well so hopefully that helps you know of course as we both mentioned it's we're you know anytime we have funding that goes for projects such as this we have opportunities to consult with the folks on the ground we are making sure that those conversations are happening because we want to make sure we're putting the money where it really matters so I know that the Fish and Wildlife Service will do an amazing job of connecting with those communities and those people and I believe that this funding will make a real difference for the ecosystems and the forests that we intend thank you would you like to answer that well the funding goes through 2026 and so but we're still working collaboratively with our partners and local communities to try to iron out all the all the details of how long it will take so we don't have all of those details quite work yet as the secretary said we're trying to make sure that we're very inclusive that we're really partnering with folks and so we want to make sure that we you know listen to voices as we're putting these projects together before we finalize any of those details same as drill maybe she's 22 fox 44 news um the security system some of them speak about how specifically the plan I know you've ever gone as far as but how funny it's going to be used for like Champlain well so like I said Vermont is one of 10 states that we're working with in Vermont we have two national wildlife refuges this funding was very specific to be used both on national wildlife refuges as well as state agencies so state wildlife management areas have the opportunity as well to be able to access funding so we're still having conversations with the state of Vermont about what might make sense there and so again those details aren't aren't quite worked out and then for our national wildlife refuges again we have missus koi which is very tied to the health of lake Champlain as well as the nulhegan part of the silvio conty which is actually tied to the health of the Connecticut river and so really both ecosystems um may benefit from these funds and certainly will benefit from this sort of long-term plan to look at the health of our lands partnering also with the forest service with states so it's not really just about our lands it's all part of the bigger the bigger puzzle um and how lake Champlain and the other great lakes um you know can benefit from these funds for the long term one last one sorry one last one you mentioned that this funding is coming from the american rescue plan as you know we're in a divided congress um so the prospect maybe of having more funding for projects like these i guess can you maybe speak about how you see some of these funds maybe maybe or maybe not playing out politically so quickly it's inflation reduction acts right yeah you said american rescue yeah also amazing but yeah so um i will say that the inflation reduction act happened because uh members of the house and members of the senate recognize that this was once in a lifetime opportunity for us to um to put climate change front and center as well as everything else that the inflation reduction act does so i i want to say that uh we're the president is uh is proud of the opportunities that this is given to the american people and i would perhaps love to have the senator also say a few words about the inflation reduction act well your your your question is about future funding and we don't know it is a divided congress but my view uh we can't turn our back the three hottest days in the history of the world the three hottest days in the history of the world the debate about whether climate change is real that's over the question is how are we going to reverse it and that has to be top of mind for everyone and that's going to take funds we've got to make the option for people to have clean energy an affordable option and the incentives that are part of what we've passed especially uh in the inflation reduction act have resulted in billions and billions of private sector investment where our marketplace is responding to the urgent need and desire that people have for clean energy alternatives so that's the argument we have i think it's very persuasive uh but we're going to have to get 218 votes uh in the future in the house and we're going to have to get probably 60 votes in the senate but you know what the heat and the effects of climate change know no political boundaries when you're in a red state you're in a blue state you care about your kids in their future the secretary howlin mentioned when she was growing up nobody none of her young peers ever had to ask their parents about what's happening in the planet kids are always asking that to us now and we've got to change that and that's true whether whoever you voted for and wherever you live so i'll just add briefly calvin i was uh spending the day yesterday up in the champlain islands and spent quite a bit of time in in alberg talking to folks in in that area about this exact issue because what i heard throughout my travels yesterday was this is not the time for the federal government to turn away from investing in rural america and so it's a real concern that folks leaders on the ground have is that these investments from ira certainly from the american rescue plan from covet relief funds from the infrastructure bill this is um a statement that congress and the biden administration has made that the time to invest is now and we cannot retreat from that and i heard that across the political spectrum yesterday on my trip is that these towns villages across vermont who have have really been bearing the brunt of not just the pandemic but climate change and how it impacts them and their their bottom line for their community members this is not the time for us to be uh shrinking those investments that we're making and so i was um heartened by what i heard and of course that is the work that i have ahead of me uh being the lone member in the house is that we cannot allow a small group of extremists to make it impossible for us to do what's right for the american people which is to continue to continue to invest in all of america including rural america