Secretary of Interior - Bruce Babbitt

In January of 1993, President Clinton appointed Bruce Babbitt Secretary of the Interior. Babbitt had served as Governor of Arizona from 1978-1987, and Attorney General of Arizona, 1975-1978. He graduated from Notre Dame with a B.A. in Geology, took an M.S. in Geophysics from University of Newcastle, England, and earned an L.L.B. from Harvard Law School.

During his tenure at the Department of Interior, Secretary Babbitt has initiated a new direction in American conservation history -- the development of large scale, consensus-based environmental restoration projects.

In Florida, the Department has initiated an interagency plan, with the Corps of Engineers and the State of Florida, to restore the ecosystem of South Florida, the Everglades and Florida Bay.

In the Pacific Northwest, the Department has played a lead role in shaping the President's Forest Plan, a comprehensive multi-species regional plan that protects millions of acres of old growth forest while providing for a sustainable level of timber harvest.

In California, the Department has led in developing the historic Bay Delta accord, ending 30 years of water wars and providing for fish and wildlife restoration.

Continuing the Department's historic commitment to the National Parks and wilderness protection, Babbitt led successful efforts by the Clinton Administration to enact the California Desert Protection Act, the largest land protection bill ever enacted for the lower 48 states.

Under Babbitt's leadership, the Department has breathed new life into the Endangered Species Act, demonstrating how the act can be applied to protect open space and multiple species through an innovative, consensus-building approach: Habitat Conservation Plans.

For example, in early January, 60 years after they were systematically eradicated from America, Babbitt had the honor of carrying the first grey wolf through the snow, and set her back in Yellowstone Park, where she later gave gave birth to pups.

In recent months, Babbitt has travelled throughout the nation, on Natural Heritage Tours, explaining to the public attempts by the new Congressional leadership to roll back our bipartisan legacy of sound conservation and environmental protection laws.

Babbitt's wife, Hattie, also an attorney, is U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States. Their two sons, Christopher and T.J., are both undergraduates at Stanford University.