Department of the Interior Secretary Order No: 3332

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
WASHINGTON

ORDER NO.3

332

Subject: Engaging the Next Generation
Sec. 1 Purpose. Engaging the next generation is essential to the Department of the Interior's
(DOl) mission to protect America's natural resources and heritage, honor our cultures and tribal
communities, and supply the energy to power our future. To bridge the growing disconnect
between young people and the great outdoors, we seek to engage and involve the next generation
in meaningful connections to nature through opportunities to play, learn, serve, and work on
public lands. Our goals will be accomplished by meaningfully increasing our commitment to
engaging young people in all aspects of our work and expanding public-private partnerships to
benefit people, public lands, the economy, and the environment.
Through this Order, DOl will build upon the outstanding work and programs already operating
in DOl bureaus at local offices and units around the country and pursue a comprehensive
strategy to involve millions of young people to play, learn, serve, and work outdoors. The DOl
will establish a framework and plan to coordinate its efforts and those across the government,
including the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC).
Sec. 2 Background. The DOl is the steward of more than one-fifth of our Nation's lands,
which include thousands of miles of streams and rivers and the headwaters of many major
watersheds, and is charged with protection of ecosystems, including fish, wildlife, plants, and
their habitat. The DOl oversees the responsible development of over 20 percent of U.S. energy
supplies and is the largest supplier and manager of water in the 17 western states. The DOl
maintains a government-to-government relationship with 566 federally recognized tribes and
provides services to more than 2 million American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. Our
scientific work is critical to responding to natural hazards and disasters, as well as building a
better understanding of the Earth's complex systems. The success of our work and our
conservation vision relies on the involvement and ownership of all, most particularly the next
generation of leaders, stewards, scientists, and champions who must be inspired to find their own
connection with America's great outdoors and our natural, cultural, and historic resources.
Yet we know that too many young people today are disconnected from nature. The DOl has the
ability and responsibility to change that, and involve the next generation in meaningful
stewardship of our country's precious natural and cultural assets, strengthen tribal communities,
and advance a landscape-level understanding of our resources. We must focus on reaching
young people wherever they live - in our cities, suburbs, and rural areas. All young people
should feel welcome on our public lands.
We will focus on our work with partners to leverage our resources and realize maximum
efficiencies in our efforts. In addition, with nearly one-third of our workforce eligible for

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retirement in the next 5 years, developing a talent pipeline is critical to the future of DOl and its
mission.
Local managers and employees in every part of the country have led the charge to expand our
collective efforts to engage youth, and have developed long-term and successful partnerships
with service corps, nonprofit organizations, large and small businesses, states, counties, cities,
and diverse stakeholder groups. The DOl is well positioned to expand its work in engaging the
next generation, as our bureaus collectively provide over 15,500 work opportunities, benefit
from 317,000 volunteers, educate more than 4 million young people, and welcome 478 million
visitors on our lands each year. The 21CSC provides an additional platform to expand our work
with young people and veterans. It is important that we build upon our successes and empower
individuals at every level of the organization to take the critical actions needed to ensure the
stewardship of our Nation's public lands and continuity of our mission while also creating
powerful and long-lasting connections to those lands in our Nation's young people.
Sec. 3 Authority. This Order is issued under the authority of Section 2 of Reorganization Plan
No.3 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1262), as amended; the Take Pride in America Act, (16 U.S.C. §§ 4601
et seq.); the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993, (16 U.S.C. §§ 1721 et seq.); and the Youth
Conservation Corps Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1701 et seq.).
Sec. 4 Goals for Increasing Youth Engagement. This Order sets forth goals for increasing
DOl's engagement with the next generation, empowers bureaus and offices to lead and
implement a comprehensive strategy for meeting the goals, and outlines the accountability
structure and implementation framework to achieve the goals. Through these efforts, DOl will
provide leadership in ensuring that the next generation has maximum opportunity to play, learn,
serve, and work in America's great outdoors, allowing generations to experience and enjoy wellstewarded, dynamic, and diverse public lands, which are critical to our history, health and wellbeing, the economy, clean water, and ecosystem health. The following goals are aimed at
inspiring young people to play, learn, serve, and work on public lands.
a.
Play. In an effort to connect more youth to public lands, DOl will develop or
enhance outdoor recreation partnerships in a total of 50 cities over the next 4 years. Through
these partnerships, we will create new, systemic opportunities for outdoor play for over
10 million young people. We will use the convening power of the Federal Government as well
as the relationships developed through our efforts to enhance and improve urban parks, refuges,
and waters to develop partnerships with tribal, state and local governments, education systems,
non-profits, and the private sector.
b.
Learn. Within 4 years, DOl will be providing educational opportunities to at least
10 million of the Nation's K-12 student population annually. We will leverage technology,
including the recently launched National Park Service teacher portal, to bring our public lands to
the classrooms and classrooms to our public lands.
c.
Serve. Within 4 years, DOl will attain a million volunteers annually on public lands
and in support of our mission. We will invest in volunteer management and coordination to
ensure that anyone who has an interest in devoting their time and talents to public lands has an

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opportunity to serve. We will re-examine how we perform our existing work to increase the
opportunities for volunteer engagement.
d.
Work. The DOl will provide 100,000 work and training opportunities to young
people and veterans over 4 years within our bureaus through youth corps and through publicprivate partnerships. To the extent authorized by law, we will call upon the private sector and
philanthropic organizations to fund additional work and training opportunities that can be
provided within DOl's mission and programs to provide pathways to employment for young
people and veterans.
Sec. 5 Responsibilities.
a.
Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management and Budget. The Assistant Secretary Policy, Management and Budget is responsible for coordinating with and supporting the Deputy
Secretary, Program Assistant Secretaries, and heads of bureaus and offices in implementing and
developing metrics for accountability, collecting results, and analyzing progress toward the goals
established above.
b.

Program Assistant Secretaries are responsible for:
(1)

Working with their respective bureaus and offices to develop targets for the

goals.
(2)
Monitoring progress and elevating issues or concerns requiring Departmentwide coordination and collaboration.
(3)

Identifying efficiencies and coordination opportunities among the bureaus and

offices.
(3) Serving on the Executive Steering Committee responsible for reviewing
implementation of this Order.
c.

Heads of Bureaus and Offices are responsible for:

(1)
organizations.

Developing an implementation plan for the goals within their respective

(2)
organization.

Ensuring that the goals are cascaded to the lowest practicable levels of the

(3)

Implementing appropriate mechanisms to monitor progress.

(4) Assigning responsibility for implementation to a member of the Senior
Executive Service.

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d.
Senior Advisor for Youth and Partnerships serves as a liaison to partners, both within
and external to the Federal Government, and leads fundraising efforts on behalf of the
Department in support of this initiative.
Sec. 6 Implementation.
a.
Fiscal Year 2014 Implementation Plan. Within 45 days of this Order, each bureau
and office will develop an implementation plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 that outlines expected
performance for the play-learn-serve-work goals building on their existing data collection
processes and procedures. The plan will outline how the organization will monitor progress,
initial barriers for implementation, and any issues requiring collaboration or coordination. The
plan will also identify the senior accountable official for implementation within the bureau or
office.
b.
Metrics and Reporting Guidance. Within 120 days of this Order, the Assistant
Secretary- Policy, Management and Budget, in consultation with the Program Assistant
Secretaries and heads of bureaus and offices, will issue guidance on metrics and reporting for
implementation at the start of FY 2015.
c.
Long-term Implementation Plan. Within 180 days of this Order, each bureau and
office will develop a long-term implementation plan outlining planned progress for FY 2015,
FY 2016, and FY 2017. The plan will identify the senior accountable official within the bureau
or office; describe how the goals will be cascaded to the lowest levels of the organization; and
describe how the organization will monitor and report progress.
d.
Progress Reporting. Progress will be monitored on a quarterly basis leveraging
existing performance planning reporting processes.
Sec. 7 Delegation. The Deputy Secretary has all of the authority that is necessary and is
responsible for implementing this Order. This authority may be further delegated, as
appropriate. This Order does not alter or affect any existing duty or authority of individual
bureaus.
Sec. 8 Effect of the Order. This Order is intended to improve the internal management of the
Department. This Order and any resulting report or recommendation are not intended to, and do
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party
against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities or entities, its officers or
employees, or any other person. To the extent there is any inconsistency between the provisions
of this Order and any Federal laws or regulations, the laws or regulations will control.

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Sec. 9 Expiration Date. This Order is effective immediately and will remain in effect until it is
amended, superseded, or revoked, whichever occurs first.

Secretary of the Interior
Date:

MAR 2 0 2014