Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a big proponent of hunting and fishing, is tilting the role of the National Park System Advisory Board in that direction/DOI

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is tilting the National Park System Advisory Board away from its traditional role focused largely on providing input on issues such as designation of national historic landmarks to one also involved with hunting, fishing, recreational shooting, and wildlife conservation issues.

The changes, signed off on by the Interior secretary in June but just recently coming to light, also allow the secretary to appoint whomever he chooses to oversee the board. In the past, the National Park Service director has been the designated federal officer who sets the board's agenda.

Specifically, the changes call for the board to, along with providing input on national historic landmarks and natural landmarks, provide advice and recommendations on secretarial orders regarding "Conservation Stewardship and Outdoor Recreation; Hunting, Fishing, Recreational Shooting and Wildlife Conservation Opportunities and Coordination with State, Tribes, and Territories, and; Increasing Recreational Opportunities on Lands and Waters Managed by the U.S. Department of Interior."

The board's advice also will be sought on how to reduce regulations and controlling regulatory costs, as well as on "innovative solutions to aggressively address wildlife fires on public lands..."

The board has sat idle for 18 months; most of its members resigned in frustration in January over Secretary Zinke's refusal to meet with them. 

For more than eight decades the board has typically provided non-partisan input and independent perspectives on current challenges and issues involving the national parks and Park Service.

The charter that was replaced had sought the board's input on "matters relating to the National Park Service, the National Park System, and programs administered by the National Park Service." Specific programs cited involved designation of "national historic landmarks and national natural landmarks; and the national historic significance of proposed national historic trails pursuant to the National Trails System Act." 

It's not unusual for new administrations to appoint new members to the board, and the nine who resigned were to have their current terms end this past May. Still, the lack of any relationship with the Trump administration surprised those on the board.

Tony Knowles, a former Alaska governor who chaired the board, said he was curious to see whom Secretary Zinke would appoint to the board under its new guidelines (attached below).

"The new emphasis on advancing hunting and fishing opportunities is a little odd. The only parts of the national parks that are open to hunting and fishing are on national preserves, which constitute about 20 plus million acres of land of which over 90 percent is in Alaska," Knowles said in an email. "In this case, he is has taken action to turn over all hunting and fishing management to the State of Alaska."

Just last week the National Park Service in Alaska released an environmental assessment examining what might happen to wolves and bears in the national preserves in that state if hunting regulations were relaxed. In that document, Park Service staff said they were relying on the state of Alaska's position that increased hunting of the predators would not have an overall impact on their populations. But the regulatory changes likely would reduce opportunities for wildlife viewing and degrade wilderness character in the preserves, the Park Service added in an assessment of the rule changes.

The regulatory changes were requested by the Trump administration. The practices, which the Park Service banned in 2015 and which are now set to be legalized, would allow:

* Taking any black bear, including cubs and sows with cubs, with artificial light at den sites

* Harvesting brown bears over bait

* Taking wolves and coyotes (including pups) during the denning season (between May 1 and August 9)

* Taking swimming caribou

* Taking caribou from motorboats under power

* Taking black bears over bait

* Using dogs to hunt black bears

"This is somewhat strange if he now wants the Board to get involved in something that he has just relinquished to the state," Knowles said Friday. "There are relatively few areas elsewhere that would involve them. If they are going to propose opening up new areas, that would be a significant change that would be highly controversial."

At the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Mike Murray said the proposed hunting changes run contrary to the Park Service's mission.

"It appears to be seriously lacking in essential context regarding the NPS mission and related management policies," said Murray. "As we said when the proposed rule was first published, this proposal is so far out of line with the NPS conservation mandate that it is not something NPS would initiate on its own. Clearly it is the result of the heavy-handed direction of political appointees within the Department of the Interior."

Going back to the changes in the advisory board's charter, Knowles said he wanted to wait to see who was appointed to the board before commenting more extensively.

"I frankly think that the real story of where Zinke is going with the Board needs to wait for who he appoints and what agenda he directs them to pursue," he said.

Judy Burke, who sat on the board with Knowles and also resigned, feared the changes would "would serve to displace the Advisory Board importance and to centralize all ability of citizen board members to only DOI 'employees,' and to quell input opportunities by those outside of the DOI."

"The revised charter also seems to indicate that the makeup of the Board needs to be revisited as to include a member that has a much higher level of knowledge as to wildfires and associated expertise in hunting and fishing issues," she added in an email. "If this changes the traditional Board makeup, which position would that replace: conservation, education, science, history or workforce?"