A majority of the U.S. National Park Service’s advisory board resigned this week — citing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s unwillingness to engage with them.
Nine of the panel’s 12 members — a bipartisan panel appointed by former President Barack Obama — signed off on a letter of resignation on Monday.
Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles said in the letter the board had “stood by waiting” to meet with Zinke all year after working “closely and productively through 2016” with Obama’s administration to the end of his presidency.
“For the last year we have stood by waiting for the chance to meet and continue the partnership between the NPSAB and the DOI as prescribed by law,” Knowles said.
The advisory board, however, has not met with the new interior secretary in the 10 months he’s been in office.
“We understand the complexity of transition but our requests to engage have been ignored and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are clearly not part of its agenda,” the letter said.
Knowles expressed “profound concern” stemming from all of the “events of this past year” and said he feels “the mission of stewardship, protection, and advancement of our National Parks has been set aside.”
“[Zinke’s Interior] department showed no interest in learning about or continuing to use the forward-thinking agenda of science, the effect of climate change, protections of the ecosystems, education,” Knowles told Alaska Public Media. “And it has rescinded NPS regulations of resource stewardship concerning those very things: biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change.”
Knowles said he and the resigning advisers — Gretchen Long, Paul Bardacke, Carolyn Finney, Judy Burke, Stephen Pitti, Milton Chen, Belinda Faustinos and Margaret Wheatley — wanted to “make a statement.”
“If they don’t want to meet with us, fine. That’s their prerogative,” he said. “But we wanted to make a statement as a board as we left what our concerns are because we don’t think they the new policies reflect the vast number of the public that supports the national park system.”
The three members who did not resign are Linda Bilmes, Rita Colwell, and Carolyn Hessler Radelet. Blimes said she was working on a project funded by the National Park Foundation and cited wanting to finish as her reason for not joining the others.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has sought to roll back national parks protections — including ordering the downsizing of two large national monuments in Utah.
Read more at GOPUSA
Having an advisory board is really not necessary for the National Parks, but such boards are a good way to insert an agenda, which is what Obama was doing.
The idea of protecting ecosystems has the inherent question of how much land is enough to protect an ecosystem. Thus, the trend is to expand territory as there is never enough land to be sure of the protection. The ultimate goal of this is the UN’s Agenda 21 goal of eventually banning man from over half the land of the US and make half of what’s left under limited usage.
The advisory board is also all about climate change, which is a political agenda that people might believe if the park system is pushing it.
Education is their other concern which includes educating our children about the nonexistent threat of climate change.
Yeah, there is no real reason for this board and they cannot come up with anything really worrisome that is real and not a political issue.
Geez is there no end to the good news . They resigned ?
Obama plants were layered in every aspect of government and it is going to take time for the burrowers to be extracted . The EPA is on the right track and now most of Parks Board . Self dealers and scary global warming cheer leaders need not apply .
Would like to see what this Board cost tax payers in the last year .
Maybe they are just afraid of an Email dump that seems so in fashion . Why did 3 stay is the question ?