Exiting NPS Board Members: Failure To Consult, Zinke's "Crazy Policies", Waste Of Time
In the end, Belinda Faustinos concluded serving on the National Park System Advisory Board and trying to advise Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was a waste of time. "I could not stomach being affiliated with the crazy policies being promoted by Zinke. ... In no way could I envision with this administration that any investment of time in giving advice would produce anything positive," Faustinos, a board member from Rosemead, Calif., said today.
After Faustinos and eight others on the 12-member board resigned en masse Monday night, Chairman Tony Knowles — who also resigned — said one of the biggest disappointments came with Zinke's handling of climate change and his failure to consult with any board members in the last year.
"I understand that advisory boards are just that," said Knowles, the former Democratic governor of Alaska who served as the board's chairman since 2010. "I've served on some, and I've made some as governor, and sometimes, they just get ignored. But at least there's a dialogue — we couldn't even get that."
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(Ed. - Interior spokeswoman Heather) Swift said in her email the department has "a number of individuals" who would like to join the board. "We will now fast-track filling these new vacancies with people who are actually dedicated to working with the Department to better our national parks," she wrote.
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