Iowa State alumna Patricia Beneke, assistant secretary for the Department of the Interior under the Clinton-Gore administration, did not contain her pride in Iowa State or in the state of Iowa during a presentation Monday evening.

“It is great to be back here at my alma mater to celebrate Earth Week,” Beneke said, speaking to an audience of more than 40 people in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. “I have strong ties with Ames and ISU.”

Beneke is an Ames native who graduated from ISU in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Beneke addressed many topics during her lecture, including three target areas on which her department has been concentrating — the Florida Everglades, San Francisco Bay Delta and the Platte River Basin.

She said the main concerns of her department include maintaining water supply, water quality, unstable levees and habitat degradation.

Beneke also discussed her love of the environment, noting that she pulled some strings in high school on the first Earth Day to attend a speech in honor of the event.

She added that the speech ironically was held on the ISU campus.

“I remember being very impressed,” she said.

She also said the 1970s owned up to its nickname as the environmental decade.

Beneke said the Department of Water and Science handles nearly 440 million acres of federal land, including 360 federal parks and more than 500 species of wildlife.

“Eighty-seven percent of Nevada is [federally owned],” she said.

Beneke was complementary toward her bosses, the Clinton-Gore administration, noting that they believe “we need to be kind to the Earth.”

“Al Gore cared [about the environment] before it was even en vogue,” she said.

Beneke presented a slide show on some of the areas her department has been tackling.

The areas include the Grand Canyon, which she named “the most scenic place in the world,” and the Everglades in south Florida, where she said the population may balloon to more than 12 million people by the year 2025.

Beneke said living in Iowa fueled her passion for the environment.

“Farmers are, by and large, wonderful stewards of the land,” she said. “I love getting out here.”

Growing up in Iowa “gives one a real sense of appreciation for the land,” she said.