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NRA Official Lands Seat On National Park Foundation Board

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Susan LaPierre, wife of National Rifle Association Executive Director Wayne LaPierre, earlier this year was named to the National Park Foundation's Board of Directors/National Park Foundation

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.

 

Comments

Dick, what has that go to do with this story? I don't follow who the Sierra Club does or doesn't endorse, or Black Lives Matter, and best I can tell I haven't espoused a position one way or another on Mrs. LaPierre's appointment. Indeed, I even pointed out how the Foundation/Interior could have announced it in a middle-of-the-road way.


The reason I thought of that question is because you stated in your message this morning that the NRA has adopted a "militant position"about things--since the Sierra Club is intimatly involved with NP issues I thought it was a fair question.  I think its a shame that we fight among ourselves when we all have the same feelings about our National parks and it does not help our cause when we can't even talk to each other without name calling and judgements


Last year during my NPS Centennial speaking circuit, I donated a five figure amount to the NPF.  Until Trump leaves office and these rascals are removed from supervision of America's Crown Jewels, I'm witholding all future support.  Zinke is no "Teddy Roosevelt" republican.  


Hi Kurt,
I don't disagree that the NRA can be divisive just as those who are anti gun can be. I honestly haven't seen an NRA commercial in a very long time (years) but am not surprised that they would have something controversial. seem to recall a Charlton Heston commercial from years that also got some people riled up.

The NRA's membership is large so why should the foundation ignore that segment of the population? It "could" end up strengthening the foundation in the long run and who knows, perhaps even get both sides of the gun issue to understand each other better. I guess time will tell. I am not saying this was a great choice, since I don't know her I can't say either way but I don't see the fact she is associated with the NRA as the end of the world or an automatic terrible choice.

As to the wording of the announcement I don't find fault with it, or yours, but obviously can't answer for them. Maybe it's a deliberate attempt to be less divisive? I suspect it was an attempt to avoid a needless firestorm. ( I am not a member of the NRA by the way)
I too find it odd the foundation wouldn't tell you where the other appointments came from and don't exactly know what to make of that.
As to questioning why Ms. Lozano's heritage was pointed out, that is just one of my pet peeves. I don't see value in diversity purely for diversities sake and see it misused more often than not. I know I am in the minority in my views but there are many ways to address and capture the value of diverse opinions and thoughts without placing quotas on board seats or any other position. I am in the camp of hiring the best person for the job period. A smart woman can and will certainly make sure men's issues and views are being addressed if the target market includes men. A smart Asian can make sure Hispanic views are captured etc. The key is being smart and also recognizing that not all people lumped in a given category think and behave alike. Being a member of any given race, creed, gender or color would never make my list of criteria in selecting a candidate, nor would it exclude them. I also don't mean to imply that Ms. Lozano isn't extremely qualified and in fact the best for that position, I hope she is.
And lastly, why the pseudonym? Some years ago I had an unfortunate incident with an individual from another site take it upon themselves to harass me at my place of employment and at home which made me more protective of my privacy. I am retired and neither I nor any of my relatives or family members have (or had) any affiliation with the NPS or any of its agencies. Nor are we involved in any form of politics (other than exercising our right to vote). I do volunteer both time and money to one of the national scenic trails which as you know are managed in partnership with the NPS but hold no formal position with them. That's as close as my association comes. Nothing nefarious.


I'm witholding all future support.

There goes another nose.  I can only shake my head.  


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"?


 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.


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