Susan LaPierre, co-chair of the National Rifle Association's Women's Leadership Forum and wife of NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre, has landed a seat on the National Park Foundation's board of directors.
Mrs. LaPierre was one of four appointments to the board made earlier this year. None of the appointments was announced in a release by either the Interior Department or Park Foundation.
Mrs. LaPierre's appointment by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke leaked out this past week in connection with a story detailing the National Park Service's opposition to a handful of sections in the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, or SHARE Act, that would impact the Park Service's management of fishing and hunting within the National Park System.
Hunting and fishing long have been associated with the National Park System. Fishing is allowed in most, if not all, units where there are fisheries, while hunting is primarily permitted in national preserves, not national parks. National lakeshores and seashores often permit waterfowl and, in some units, deer hunting. Feral hogs are hunted in Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, while there's a controlled elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park aimed specifically at controlling the size of the herd.
In all, 75 units of the park system allow some form of hunting, according to the Interior Department website.
In recent years, however, hunting in and around the park system in Alaska has grown increasingly controversial as state wildlife officials worked to reduce predators that could deprive hunters of big game. At Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, a two-decade-long prey-predator study came to an end last year because the wolf packs were decimated by Alaska Department of Fish and Game's predator control program.
Since the Trump administration took office, it has worked to remold the land-management agencies. For the Park Service, so far that has meant tweaks to wildlife management approaches.
Early last month word leaked out that the Interior Department had ordered the National Park Service to reconsider wildlife regulations at odds with hunting and trapping regulations enforced by the state of Alaska. The order, signed by Virginia Johnson, currently Interior's acting assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, directed the Park Service to reconsider rules it adopted in October 2015 regarding hunting and trapping on national preserves in Alaska where sport hunting is allowed. Under those regulations, hunters on national preserves cannot:
- Use bait (donuts, grease-soaked bread, etc.) to hunt bears;
- Use of artificial light to spotlight dens to kill black bears; and
- Kill bear cubs or sows with cubs.
That directive arrived just two weeks after acting-Park Service Director Michael Reynolds wrote a memorandum to the Interior Department's legislative counsel listing concerns to a handful of provisions in the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, which seeks to bolster the country's hunting and angling communities.
Of concern to the Park Service were provisions that would:
- Remove National Park Service oversight of commercial and recreational fishing in waters within the park system;
- Remove protections for denning bears and wolves on park system lands in Alaska, and;
- Do away with environmental reviews of the impacts of construction projects on federal lands adjacent to the park system.
The Park Service's concerns were crossed out by an author who signed only his initials, "C.H." At Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, staff identified the author as Casey Hammond, "a former Republican congressional staffer recently brought into Interior as a Trump political appointee."
“These are not minor matters – these changes would forfeit whole spheres of national park stewardship,” PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said last week. “It appears that national parks are no longer allowed to give Congress their honest views about the impacts of pending legislation.”
McClatchy Newspapers' District of Columbia bureau obtained the Reynolds' memo.
Why Secretary Zinke decided to appoint Mrs. LaPierre to the Park Foundation board isn't known, other than that the secretary has been a life member of the NRA and views the group's membership as containing "some of the most committed conservationists in America."
A request for comment from his spokeswoman Sunday was not returned, nor was one to the Park Foundation. The National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks did not comment on the appointment.
While it wasn't possible Sunday to determine whether Mrs. LaPierre has strong connections to parks, in her bio on NRA Women she called herself "a lifelong outdoorswoman who's always believed in the Second Amendment and the NRA." The Leadership Forum she organized a dozen years ago is a "philanthropic society of women who are dedicated to protecting and defending our Second Amendment."
"As a commissioned board member appointed by Secretary Zinke, I join a distinquished group of national leaders and conservationists," Mrs. LaPierre wrote in a tweet she posted back in May.
While her Twitter account restricts access to "confirmed followers," a copy of the tweet was obtained by The Trace, a "nonprofit journalism startup dedicated to shining a light on America’s gun violence crisis" that last week broke the story about Mrs. LaPierre's appointment.
Also new to the National Park Foundation's Board of Directors are:
Glenn Stearns, chairman and founder of Stearns Corporations. Stearns Lending is the No. 1 independent mortgage banker in the United States with funding of more than $10 billion annually.
Monica Lozano, a Hispanic businesswoman who is also a board member for Target, Bank of America, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and she chairs the Board of Regents of the University of California and the Weingart Foundation.
Andrea J. Grant, president of Environmental Communication Associates, co-founded the Big Green Rabbit, a multimedia children’s company that packages environmental and health topics using multimedia and digital platforms to reach millions of families and kids around the world. Big Green Rabbit won four Emmys, Webby Awards, Parents Choice awards, and has received over 85 million hits on YouTube. Big Green Rabbit performs annually at the White House Easter Egg Roll.
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Comments
Great! Now I not only have to watch for people everywhere I take my grandson on the streets but pretty soon I'll have to watch whose pointing a gun at me in my NATIONAL PARKS. I'm not against gun ownership (I own three) but can't we keep some relatively "Safe Havens"?
You mean like all those gun free zones where people get shot by people that don't give a hoot about the law? Oh, and BTW, guns have been allowed in National Parks since 2010.
I'm not so much concerned about her relationship to the NRA, because there's frankly not much that she can do as a member of the board to influence guns at NPS sites. That's already settled by law. I'd be more worried about whether or not her positions align with her husband's on climate change or land restoration, which the National Park Foundation does actively influence.
However, I think it's been mentioned that she would only be one of about 30 on the board.
“Carrying guns is a Constitutional issue and a personal protection issue. Do you believe it is "evil" that hundreds of thousands of people if not millions have used guns each year to protect themselves and their property? {edited to correct grammer}”
I found the above quote by EC interesting. Is he including Afganistan, Iraq, and Syria? If so how has that worked out for those countries? It certainly doesn’t sound correct for the U.S. and most of the developed world but perhaps EC has data to support his statement.
I have no opinion on Susan LaPierre and for all I know she may be a wonderfull person. I was referring only to her husband as an evil person. Unti the age of 30 I was an avid hunter and gun nut and had been a supporter of the NRA since my teenage years. Back then the NRA promoted safe use of guns through training and the majority of members probably still do. But the current leadership of the NRA is doing everything it can to convince the country that to be safe from the government and criminals everyone should be armed at all times including the mentally ill. In that respect I believe that Wayne LaPierre is partially or indirectly reponsible for the murders of many in this country. Regarding suicides with guns I guess that is a personal choice regretable as it may be.
I no longer hunt as I grew tired of killing things for fun or “sport” and moved on to hobbys where I am risking my life instead of animals for my shots of adrenalin. But I do agree that hunters and fisherman are responsible for more protection of wildife habitat than are those who don’t.
But I am concerned that Mrs. LaPierre’s appointment indicates that there will be efforts to open more refuges and parks to hunting under Secretary Zinke.
In 1994 the Justice Department under Bill Clinton did a study on defensive use of a handgun in the US. That study concluded that there were 800,000 + uses each year. Dr. Gary Kleck of Florida State University, was concerned about the methodology of that study noting that interviewees might be likely to under report their ownership and use of guns to the federal government. He did his own study which concluded the number was around 2 million per year. So yes, I have data to support my statement.
Show me where Wayne LaPierre has ever said "everyone should be armed".
Correction: Flecks study was actually conducted in 1992. The reference to underreporting was actually one of his responses on the large discrepency between his report and the one from the Justice Department. Either way, the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands and potentially, according to Fleck's study into the millions. And before you cite Hemenway as a rebuttal, check out Fleck's critic of Hemenway's analysis.
sickening
insane choice bet she is a trophy hunter. Another bad choice
I guess not everyone got the memo:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/michigan-woman-pulls-gun-back-t...
Hellboy, don't know if your comments are from ignorance or spite. He isn't promoting the use of guns in churches or bars. Alllowing someone to carry for self defense yes but not indiscriminant use. Furthermore, if the church or bar doesn't want guns, it is their preogative to ban them from their establshments. The facts show that owning and carring guns result in far more (many multiples) uses in self defense than in "unnecessary death and harm".
Those "studies" that show "millions" of times every year when someone legitimately uses a firearm to "protect" themself have repeatedly been totally debunked. Just a little simple math shows how ridiculous the claims are.
But, hey, in the fantasy worlds of some people opinions, outright falsehoods, and bizarre conspiracies are now the facts.
Just look at the White House. Sanity is becoming more scarce every day.
Yeah the Justice Department just made up the numbers. There have been numberous studies conducted and all put the number in the 100s of thousands in not millions. I have not seen one that puts the number below that. Perhaps you could show us one, Lee. And of course, those numbers don't include the untold number of crimes that aren't committed for fear that someone might be carrying a gun. You know, there is a reason the worst incidents we have seen typical occur in "gun free" zones.
Barry, the NRA and responsible hunters have become two widely divergent groups.
If that is the case Lee, show us where any of the organizations Barry mentioned have disassociated themselves with the NRA. Just more of your baseless commentary.
Whatever makes you happy, EC. But I'm sure readers who don't reside in the Echo Chamber will be able to reach their own conclusions.
Keep smiling.
Yes, and their conclusion will be once again you couldn't substantiate your baseless claim/accusation.
These greedy self-serving people want to deprive future generations of a natural heritage that Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir fought so hard to protect. I think that Zinke and Trump are traitors to this country for this behavior alone.
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2017/09/12/dana-milbank-the-nra...
The fox has just been given a key to the henhouse.
What!? Can anyone say "conflict of intererst"? Good lord! Obscene, wrong, ghastly.
Uh, what is the conflict?
Eric. Please. Most of us have tried to be patient with you, but if you are too naive to observe the obvious, don't ask us to spoon feed it to you. Your blinders won't allow you to see it if we explain it. But thanks for asking nicely.
Not obvious to me, and apparently not obvious to those that made the appointment. Please, tell us what you believe the conflict to be. Is a board member that is a proponent of hunting on public lands any more conflicted than one that is an environmental activist? I find it healthy that multiple views will be expressed on this board.
Most of us following this website realize what's not obvious to you, EC. Classifying the wife of the NRA Exec Director as a "proponent of hunting on public lands" would be like calling the Pope a "church-going Catholic". You really need to step up the logic on why we should embrace having this person on the board.
No Brian, you need to provide the rationale why there is a conflict.
Brian - young Eric keeps trying to frame the structure of conversations which involve other people he can't control. It is something we still hope he will outgrow.
After Nikolas Cruz allegedly shot and killed 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, his former school, on February 14, calls have grown for corporations to end agreements with the gun lobby whose aim it is to keep in place the gun laws that allowed Cruz to buy his AR-15 assault rifle. This is why there is a conflict. It's called news.
And, Argalite, when Wayne LaPierre saw that consumers were voting with their feet and corporations began to pull away from the NRA power base, he appeared to get so unhinged that he went on a dogwhistle anti-semitic rant. One worries about his very aryan-appearing wife at the same time.
The appointments are at the discretion of the Secretary. I guess the proof for NPF will be in what NPF brings in from a fundraising standpoint. I don't like the appointment and will not contribute to NPF.
What continues to be worrisome is how DOI news of Board appointments, reorganizations, drilling offshore, etc occurs - drip by dirp - tweet by tweet - and any questioning is dismissed outright.
It was good to re-read this interview after a year of Secretary Zinke's tenure.
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20170627/nra-official-qa-with-us-secreta...
Thank you Mather Forever, I agree, this is not a good appointment, she does not have the background for a position on the board, other than her hasbands role in the NRA and the donations this organization gives to the politicians currently in office, at least that is my view. Interestingly enough, many such appointments are very political, a lot depends on whose in power and how much money they have contributed. I was once sponsored for a state parks board position, a non pay position. The appoinments secretary for the administration in charge at the time notified my sponsors that I seemed to have the qualifications but it was noted I had not contributed to the political campaign of the current govenor. Asked how much, reply 10,000 dollars. Needless to say that was the end of it.
Argalite, before you embarrass yourself, you should learn what an assault rifle is. Hint, an AR-15 isn't one. BTW, should we chastise AAA because it promotes automobiles that caused 19,000 deaths last year, more than 50x the deaths by rifle of any kind. Or maybe we ban hand fist and feet that accounted for twice as many as all rifles, or knives that kill 5x as many. But back to topic, I see no one has yet been able to identify any true conflict of interest.
It is ok, Argalite. You aren't expected to listen to lessons about military armament from those who refused to serve in our nation's military.
A collector friend of mine would never call the AR-15 an assault rifle. That would be the military version, i.e., the M-16.
Now, what should we call the Dodge Ram? An assault vehicle or just a truck? EC, you're way off base on that statistic. 41,000 people died on our highways last year. And don't forget all of the new paraplegics and quadriplegics. Someone needs those blue parking spaces, right?
We're just not allowed to make those comparisons, but until we are, EC is right. Accountability has to be absolute to be accountability. If the ACLU will defend drunken drivers, why single out people who want a gun? Because the discharge of a gun is a willful act? So is driving drunk.
As for Ms. LaPierra, American philanthropy is filled with hundreds like her. Nor did those organizations ask where the "sausage" was made. You don't like the sausage? Well, we Americans sure like the money. And that's all that her appointment means.
The ACLU defends people/corporations wherein constitutional issues are raised. It is the constitution the ACLU defends. This is why, in the classic case (I forget the year) the ACLU defended white supremacy marches in Illinois. Not because the ACLU agrees with white supremacy but because to limit their right to march would be a limitation on the constitutional issue of free speech–a limitation on all of us.
When was the last time you saw someone take a car into a school and kill 28 (Newtown, CT), or 17 (Parkland, FL), or to the 32nd floor of a hotel and killed 58 (Las Vegas)?
Vehicle deaths are mostly accidental. Not so much with mass shootings.
Kurt, they are just as dead whether accidental or intentional.
Ecbuck, I wish you would think before embarrassing yourself. I served in the military and know quite well what an assault rifle is.
One is made to kill on purpose, the other is trasportation that can be made to kill. Only clowns hunt with AR-15s. Handguns are for killing people, not hunting
It's not evident by your comment.
Ah, you are correct Alfred, the number I gave was only for the first half of 2017.
Actually I don't know the definition of an assault rifle, (I could read the definition, but why? I'm not buying one) but when I see an AR-15, I know it isn't made to hunt wild animals.
I certainly would not want to hunt with my old M-16, and I do not need a clip.
You mean magazine? Or where you shooting a Garand?
deflection from the subject
"Vehicle deaths are mostly accidental. Not so much with mass shootings."
Funny, isn't it, which definitions of accident the culture has taught us to accept.
Yes you have. The subject was suppossed conflict of interest in appointing La Pierre to the board. You and others have taken off on an attack of the 2nd amendment and the NRA.
Speaking of conflicts of interest, the NRA is being investigated by the FBI for money laundering that would qualify as treason:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html
Gee I thought the subject was the NRA, and you tried to "teach me" what a assault rifle was
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
Ah, yes. The old "familiar with the matter" routine. At least McClatchy is claiming two sources. Unfortunately, this kind of reporting is not meant to report a thing, claims a historian familiar with the matter. It is rather meant to stir the public into a frenzy from which McClatchy, et al., may profit. In my history textbooks, it used to be called Yellow Journalism. From Wikipedia: "Joseph Campbell describes yellow press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold layouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources, and unabashed self-promotion." (italics added by historian familiar with the matter)
If true, the Russian mobster should go to jail. Meanwhile, watch the blood pressure, folks. A cardiologist of mine familiar with the matter warns all of us to start cooling down.
Just learned today of the appointment of Susan LaPierre last August. It's just appalling. I've contributed annually to the National Park Foundation but will no longer do so, until this kind of political appointment is eliminated. It is hardly in the spirit of the National Park Service.
Unfortunately, the National Parks Foundation has long had a questionable reputation for caving in to political games. A much better place to send your contributions would be the National Parks Conservation Association. ( NPCA )
Susan will be a great asset.
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