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Rick Smith
Daily Caller
Thursday, September 19, 2019 3:09 PM ET
Aurelia Skipwith Represents The Future Of American Conservation
Guns and Gear Contributor
By Laird Hamberlin
Last week, Aurelia Skipwith faced her confirmation hearing to be the Director of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in front of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works after being nominated by President Trump. Ms. Skipwith, who currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior, is an ideal candidate to lead the agency responsible for much of U.S. conservation efforts and I sincerely hope the Senate will recognize her outstanding qualifications by confirming her.
Before joining the Trump administration, Ms. Skipwith not only spent six years in the private sector but also spent time in the U.S Department of Agriculture and USAID. Her undergraduate degree comes from Howard University, and her other academic qualifications include a law degree from the University of Kentucky and a M.S. in molecular biology from Purdue University.
In her confirmation hearing, Ms. Skipwith concentrated on her passion for protecting America’s wildlife refuges, which she referred to as our nation’s “crown jewels.” Indeed, her focus on the importance of working with private landowners to find conservation solutions aligned with the best available science will ensure “all lands stay productive for all the species and for the people that own them.”
Since first joining the Trump administration, Ms. Skipwith has also garnered the respect of prominent conservationists, federal agency personnel, and members of Congress. Department of the Interior Secretary Bernhardt said “Aurelia is a leader within the department who has helped us execute our initiatives as outlined by President Trump.”
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the nation’s largest private conservation grant-maker and a nonpartisan organization, also sees Ms. Skipwith as an excellent choice for USFWS Director. NFWF Executive Director and CEO Jeff Trandahl, who has served the NFWF since 2006, said Ms. Skipwith “has brought an incredible corporate background to the workings of the Department and we look forward to her leadership in joining the USFWS. She has a unique understanding of the value of public-private partnerships as we work to resolve complicated environmental and wildlife issues.” Similarly, SCI has seen the conservation successes brought by public-private partnerships in the U.S and abroad. We are excited to see the FWS position themselves to ensure those successes continue.
Ms. Skipwith’s appointment has also received bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Representative William Lacy Clay, a Democrat active on the House Natural Resources Committee, introduced Ms. Skipwith at her hearing and praised her as a “one of the most talented, hardest working and driven persons that I have ever known… with a keen insight into policy and passion for science.”
With glowing endorsements from America’s leading conservation officials and bipartisan support in Congress, Ms. Skipwith represents a new USFWS that is committed to implementing balanced land use to mutually benefit America’s sportsmen and the needs of our critical habitats and endangered species. Safari Club International eagerly awaits her swift confirmation in the Senate, and we hope that all Senators can put partisan politics aside to do so.
Laird Hamberlin is the CEO of Safari Club International
Rick Smith
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Rick Smith
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
Monday, September 23, 2019
The BLM is finally doing what it should have done years ago: Go West
Opinion: The Bureau of Land Management is moving its folks West, closer to the majority of the 245 million acres of public lands it manages.
William Perry Pendley, opinion contributor
For decades, Westerners have complained that the top decision makers at America's largest land manager, the Bureau of Land Management, are in Washington, D.C., although the lands they manage are 2,000 miles away.
Westerners want – and deserve – a more accessible and accountable BLM. Consistent with President Trump’s vision for a more efficient and effective government, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt recently announced the BLM will put some of its best and most knowledgeable leaders in the West.
This is great news for Arizona and Western states.
An overwhelming majority of the 245 million acres of public lands managed by our BLM are in the West, yet about half of the Bureau’s Senior Executive Service leadership is stationed in Washington, D.C.
Our day-to-day operations will be vastly improved by putting decision making on the ground; enhancing coordination among employees, partners and stakeholders; and reducing cost in terms of office space, overhead, travel and cost of living for our employees who relocate.
More focus on solar, horse programs
The relocation will deliver real results, advancing BLM’s “multiple use” mission across the board. This means a sharpened focus on renewable energy projects, including solar, wind and geothermal projects both in California and in neighboring Nevada, where 67% of land is managed by the federal government.
It also means on-range management of the Bureau’s wild horse and burro program. Nevada has the highest horse and burro population in the nation.
Some have attempted to portray the move as a tacit effort to “gut the agency’s mission,” a means of forcing resignations, staff turnover or even massive attrition – all cloaked under the guise of more efficient and responsive governance. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality, this commonsense relocation has resulted from a transparent, congressionally funded and approved process. And, what’s more, we will retain in Washington those personnel who serve a uniquely national mission, namely our budget and congressional liaison experts.
Some jobs will move to Arizona
For those unable to make the move West for professional, personal or other reasons, we are working with them to find other suitable employment opportunities in other divisions of the department. We hope all of those slated to move will travel west with us, but we understand everyone’s circumstances are their own.
For those positions that are contingent on being in D.C., the personnel will remain in D.C., but the remainder will be relocated or newly hired out West. There are many Westerners who are highly skilled in the work we do – ranchers, miners, loggers and petroleum engineers, among others – who might consider working for the BLM but would never move to Washington, D.C.
Now they can work for us and live at home, or “in the neighborhood.”
The move means approximately 30 positions currently in D.C. are heading to Arizona, including the National Training Center based in Phoenix. These positions will support both national and on-the-ground priority work related to planning, lands and realty, helping to address a real need for the bureau and empowering our employees through better training programs.
With this move to reconnect BLM with the men and women most impacted by our work, the bureau will be greatly strengthened. Visitors to the West will discover a bureau that is more efficient, more effective and more responsive.
The American people and the cause of conservation will be all the better for it.
William Perry Pendley serves as the Bureau of Land Management's deputy director for policy and programs, exercising authority of the director. Share your thoughts at blm_...@blm.gov
Doug Troutman
The biggest problem with BLM is already the appointees and “I only follow orders” managers that have come into agencies for several decades now. Needless to say, the vast majority of BLM employees have always lived in the west, not DC.(or even DSC).
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Rick Smith
The Hill (Washington, DC)
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 02:30 PM EDT
Keeping your national parks accessible even during a government shutdown
By P. Daniel Smith, Opinion Contributor
A trip to a national park is a treasured opportunity, often years in the making. Visitors from across the country and around the world save for and plan long-awaited trips to experience these beautiful, awe-inspiring landscapes and form lasting connections to our country’s natural and historic resources. It is heartbreaking when these plans are canceled due to a lapse in appropriations, or “government shutdown,” that is beyond their control.
The National Park Service’s dual mission to conserve park resources while providing for public enjoyment does not change during a lapse. Simply put, if funds are available, the public should have the ability to visit and access their national parks. In the case of the most recent lapse of appropriations, hundreds of millions of dollars of funds were available that could immediately be used.
As the National Park Service prepared for a possible lapse in appropriations in late 2018, memories lingered of closed memorials and national parks from shutdowns in previous administrations. Therefore, the Trump administration took a different approach. A contingency plan allowed many parks to remain accessible to visitors, with staffing maintained at levels related to protection of life and property. Close to 100 parks remained accessible for visitors to use roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials. Generous partner donations also provided additional key visitor services.
As the lapse dragged on, the NPS reviewed its shutdown contingency plan and the availability of funds that could keep parks accessible and clean for the long duration.
In 2004, Congress passed the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA). This law allows the National Park Service to charge and retain fees and expend them for specified allowable purposes. These revenues, earned from individuals and families who visit the national parks every day, may be used at any time for purposes supporting those visits, including facility enhancement, repair, maintenance, visitor services, and law enforcement activities.
After careful review of the legal authority to utilize retained fee revenues, then-Acting Interior Secretary Bernhardt directed the National Park Service to immediately modify the contingency plan. This allowed parks that had an available balance of FLREA funds to immediately utilize such funds within the bounds of the law. Park managers were quickly able to address issues with restrooms and sanitation, trash collection, and road maintenance; operate campgrounds; conduct law enforcement and emergency operations; and provide other basic visitor services. In addition, staff that worked on specified allowable purposes under FLREA were able to be paid.
The National Park Service has reviewed a recent Government Accountability Office opinion criticizing the use of FLREA funds during the shutdown as being outside of FLREA’s purposes. We strongly disagree with its analysis.
This was certainly not the first time the National Park Service used FLREA funds for important visitor services such as maintaining clean restrooms and collecting trash. Going back many years, FLREA fees have been used for these purposes dozens of times during regular operations, including to "clean and sanitize floating sanitation stations and mobile beach restrooms" in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 2014; for "custodial operations at cabin and comfort stations, grounds maintenance; trash disposal and recycling of solid waste" at Cape Lookout National Seashore in 2015; for campground maintenance at Voyageurs National Park in 2015; and to clean and maintain comfort stations at Acadia National Park in 2016. These types of important visitor services clearly fall within the purposes of FLREA. The use of these fees to keep parks maintained, including during a shutdown, is not only within our lawful authority, it is our responsibility.
Furthermore, the House Appropriations Committee this year held a hearing on “The Power of the Purse: A Review of Agency Spending Restrictions During a Shutdown” where Ranking Member David Joyce questioned Julie Matta from the GAO about a September 2006 GAO report on Recreation Fees that directly contradicts the most recent report and is in line with the historical application that has been followed by the Department and the National Park Service. The 2006 report states: “…critics continue to oppose recreation fees in concept, in large part, on the grounds that the cost of operating and maintaining federal lands should be covered by general fund appropriations and that these fees constitute a barrier to public access to federally managed lands. However, in times of budget constraints, recreation fees may provide an important source of additional funding needed to sustain agency operations.”
The administration answered the call from the public and gateway communities to do whatever was in our power to maintain the American people’s access to their lands. Instead of closing down the most visited national parks and denying Americans access, the National Park Service resolved to keep a good amount of the public’s parks accessible and maintained.
Congress eventually passed, and President Trump signed into law, a continuing resolution that temporarily funded the government and provided funding for the operational expenses of the National Park Service that occurred during the lapse of appropriations. With that, operational funding could replace the FLREA funds and the FLREA funds then could be used for other purposes in support of the visitor experience.
Going forward, the decision by Congress in 2004 to have FLREA funds available for specified purposes provides certainty that parks with FLREA funds never need to close their gates during a government lapse in funding. Park visitors deserve certainty that eagerly anticipated vacations to national parks can take place as planned.
Smith is deputy director, exercising the authority of the director of the National Park Service.
An Epopt
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Bill Wade
Duncan,
You would know better than I, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this piece was initiated by Bernhardt & Co. and Danny “directed” to release it as he goes out the door. On another note, its implied that Danny is leaving the NPS, although I haven’t seen that stated specifically?
Bill Wade
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An Epopt
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