"Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us." Teddy Roosevelt
This post is to 1) highlight an urgent funding issue at the federal level and 2) set the record straight (from our point of view) on whether or not the current Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is, as he likes to put it, in the Teddy Roosevelt mold. Born and raised in Montana, Zinke claims strong roots in conservation, even resigning in 2016 as a delegate to the Republican National Convention when federal land transfer to states was added to the Republican platform. Zinke's prior service to the country has been strong, twenty-three years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. His desire to join the administration of the current President, however, calls into question his more recent judgment. The League of Conservation Voters has given Zinke a lifetime score of 4% (vs. their top rating of 100% for solid conservation performers.) Meanwhile, oil and gas companies donated $350,000 to Zinke’s campaigns. Whereas working for the 45th President makes land protection in the John Muir style difficult at best, Zinke’s performance in his first nine months in office has revealed he may not be who even his western supporters hoped he would be.
While Zinke "swaggers" through our national parks, his staffers back in Washington, many if not most coming from the oil and gas industries, are diligently working to dismantle our National Park System and roll back protections for the environment. First on their list are 27 national monuments created since 1996. It is important to note: no President has ever undone the wilderness or cultural protection designated by a previous President . . . until this attempt now. Next is an assault on the Antiquities Act of 1906 (enacted we might add during Teddy Roosevelt's administration) which enables the President to establish national monuments, a process which has led to the upgrade of countless national monuments to iconic national parks. Since 1906, every President except three have used the authorities of the Antiquities Act to establish national monuments. It should also be noted that 1) no land may be included in a national monument that is in private ownership and 2) many attorneys and professors of law doubt the authority of the President to abolish a national monument. Then comes the administration's fiscal 2018 budget. As currently proposed, the administration not only intends to ignore the existing $12.5 billion National Park Service maintenance backlog, they now propose an 11 percent Interior Department funding cut, the largest cut in Interior’s budget since World War II.
Teddy Roosevelt, during his administration, placed 230 million acres of land under federal protection on behalf of the American people. Ryan Zinke appears currently on a path to withdraw lands from federal protection—not for the American people, but for powerful lobbies at the state and local level. On 3Jan17, Zinke voted “Yes” on a package making it easier to transfer lands from federal protection to the states. Yes, he is only on the job for nine months and could have a dramatic epiphany during the balance of his term. We doubt that epiphany will occur unless the American people rise up to this assault and say “Enough” with the swagger, “Enough” with the parallel to Roosevelt, and “Enough” with the turning over of these revered lands to oil and gas exploration, logging and mining. “Enough!”