BISMARCK, ND (KXNET) - The Secretary of the Interior oversees the U.S. Department of the Interior. The department manages public lands and minerals, national parks, and wildlife refuges and upholds Federal trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and Native Alaskans. Additionally, Interior is responsible for endangered species conservation and other environmental conservation efforts. The Department of the Interior manages several bureaus and agencies: The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Safet and Environmental Enforcement, Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The Secretary of the Interior's responsibilities goes beyond the borders of the United States. According to the department's website, the secretary has administrative responsibility for coordinating federal policy in the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the responsibility to administer and oversee U.S. federal assistance provided to the Freely Associated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau under the Compacts of Free Association. The Office of Insular Affairs executes these responsibilities on behalf of the Secretary. The Department of the Interior has roughly 70,000 employees asnd supports 280,000 volunteers at 2,400 operating locations. The idea of setting up a separate department to handle domestic matters was put forward on numerous occasions in the early days of the U.S. government. It wasn't until March 3, 1849, the last day of the 30th Congress, that a bill was passed to create the Department of the Interior to take charge of the Nation's internal affairs.