Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Montana congressman Ryan Zinke as the new Secretary of the Interior, presiding over the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs and a broad range of other departments critical to our nation’s natural heritage.
“While we admire Representative Zinke for being a Western outdoorsman who understands the beauty and value of our natural heritage, his stances on undermining environmental protections and prioritizing natural resource extraction cause great concern. If he is confirmed, we can only hope that the side of him we’ll see is that which has made strong statements in favor of keeping America’s national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands in federal hands.
A fundamental obligation of the Department of the Interior is to steward America’s rich natural endowment in a manner that balances the short-term demands of development with the long-term needs of fish, wildlife and wild places, as well as the legacy we leave future generations. We are concerned that Rep. Zinke favors development and extractive industries at the expense of clean water, protected wildlands and healthy ecosystems. Doing so not only harms our environment and quality of life, it can also cause significant harm to the vibrant $646 billion dollar outdoor recreation industry, an economic powerhouse in our region. We applaud recent statements from Senator Maria Cantwell and other Western leaders voicing their concerns regarding Rep. Zinke’s nomination.
Conservation Northwest is a regional wildlife and wildlands conservation organization active for more than 25 years.