NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is serving out her final days in office. President Biden made history by appointing her as the first Native American in a cabinet position. "The first couple days I got here, I was, you know, it took me a while to just breathe and say, oh my goodness, I'm really here,” said Deb Haaland, Interior Secretary. Story continues below Don't Miss: State medical board revokes Albuquerque neurosurgeon’s license Community: ‘We want to do right by this brand’: New owners of Marble Brewery speak out Crime: Otero County sheriff’s deputy facing murder charge after fatally shooting teen National: Do Americans want more states? Are we on the right track now? Secretary Deb Haaland made history in 2021 when President Biden appointed her as the first Native American cabinet member in the United States. "It feels like a big weight on your shoulders because the world is looking at you and you know you have to make sure you're doing things right,” said Haaland. Haaland said President Biden wanted to have a cabinet that reflects America. "And so, I felt that it was important for me to bring my whole self to this job. And that means my identity as a pueblo woman, my identity as a military kid, as a member of Congress,” said Haaland. She highlighted her goals going into her term, "I felt that I wanted to ensure that we were doing all we could for conservation, for our, for our species that depend on us. And of course, lifting up Indian country, making sure that they had a voice in the decisions that we made about them and their communities." Through the "America the Beautiful" initiative, Haaland boasted about the administration conserving 670 million acres of U.S. land, water, and oceans. “And that is more than any president in history, in fact,” said Haaland. She is also proud of the US for entering into 400 co-stewardship agreements with tribes nationwide. "Tribes who have been stewarding these lands for millennia, sharing their knowledge with the department staff, and helping us to know and understand those landscapes better and do a better job of stewarding them,” said Haaland. Haaland also underscored the wrongdoings of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative that went on for roughly 150 years. "Where they would steal children from their families and communities, send them sometimes thousands of miles away from their families and communities to attend boarding schools alongside people that they had never known,” said Haaland. It's a part of our history, Haaland said, most Americans don't know about. Her hope was to help those communities heal. “We were very honored when President Biden decided to travel to Indian country to give a formal and in-person acknowledgment and apology,” said Haaland. When asked what it was like to hear President Biden's words, she replied, "Sitting there in the audience, listening to his speech, looking around me to see so many native people in the audience, tribal leaders who had traveled from long distances to be there in person, it really meant something to them." As for her next venture, KRQE News 13 asked if she has any plans to run for governor. She replied, “Thank you for that question. And as I said, when I'm done here, I'll make any decisions for my future at that time.” Secretary Haaland also highlighted the creation of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Unit, headquartered in Albuquerque. An issue, Haaland said, will take more than one law and one secretary to fix.