Secretary Salazar Welcomed To Interior Department

Dan Wenk, acting director of the National Park Service, joined hundreds of others in welcoming Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to the Main Interior Building in downtown Washington, D.C., Wednesday morning.

“I am humbled to be here, to be the Secretary of the Interior,” Salazar said to employees assembled in the building’s 18th Street lobby.

Secretary Salazar had kind words for Interior employees and singled out the National Park Service. As a Colorado senator, he supported National Park Centennial projects in the 110th Congress, and, over his last few days in the newly-convened 111th Congress, supported legislation to include up to $2 billion of National Park Service projects as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan.

Secretary Salazar shook hands with employees on his way to a waiting elevator. “I reintroduced myself to the Secretary,” Wenk said of their brief meeting. “I said, ‘Mr. Secretary, the men and women of the National Park Service are here to support the administration as we move forward,’ and that was about it.”

Salazar introduced fellow Coloradan Tom Strickland as his chief of staff. Other appointees in the Secretary’s offices will be announced in the days and weeks to come.