The head of Yellowstone National Park says he plans to retire next March, ending a more than four decade run with the National Park Service. The surprise announcement came after speculation he was being reassigned for political reasons.
The U.S. Interior Department proposed transferring Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk to a job in D.C.
Wenk said that job would鈥檝e required a multi-year commitment.
鈥淚鈥檓 66 years old,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 did not see that I had that kind of energy that I could commit to three to five years and so I made the decision to retire.鈥�
Wenk is one of many senior leaders at the Park Service targeted for reshuffling.
According to a recent , more than half of those leaders surveyed felt they were being reassigned for political or punitive reasons. Or because of their prior work on climate change and conservation.
Jeff Ruch is with the watchdog group Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility. He said it鈥檚 all about loyalty.
鈥淲hat they are trying to do is not just move people but they鈥檙e trying to instill the feeling that if anybody does the least bit to displease political leaders, they鈥檙e gone,鈥� he said.
Ruch said Wenk has butted heads with the Trump administration before. Last year, Wenk expressed concerns over the Interior Department鈥檚 delisting and subsequent hunting of Yellowstone-area grizzly bears.
Ruch believes this contributed to his reassignment.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 think he was a loyalist or basically that he wouldn鈥檛 say 鈥榟ow high鈥� when they said jump,鈥� Ruch said. 鈥淗e was an independent person who鈥檇 been with the agency for more than four decades and frankly that鈥檚 not the kind of person they want.鈥�
Wenk still has some loose ends he wants to tie up before he retires next year, including the transfer of some Yellowstone bison to tribal lands on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.
That work will take some cooperation with the Trump administration and Wenk needs to play nice if he wants to finish his career in Yellowstone, according to Ruch.
鈥淭he Interior Department doesn鈥檛 need to allow him to stay where he is until next March,鈥� Ruch said.
Ruch said they can still transfer him with very little notice.
For his part, Wenk said he had disagreements with the Interior Department on how to manage the park鈥檚 bison but he never felt pressure to be loyal to the Trump administration.
鈥淒id we have some difference of opinion on occasion? About especially wildlife and resource issues? But that鈥檚 no different in this administration than it was in any other administration,鈥� Wenk said.
Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines is a close ally of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and said Wenk鈥檚 loyalty wasn鈥檛 a factor in his potential reassignment or retirement.
鈥淚鈥檓 not aware of any politically motivated kind of pressures,鈥� Daines said. 鈥淒an did not mention that to me at all. I鈥檝e not heard any of that from Secretary Zinke.鈥�
March is still a ways away and Wenk said he鈥檚 happy he can stay in the nation鈥檚 oldest national park until then. His first job was there. After he retires, he hopes to hang out with his grandkids in South Dakota.
鈥淚 hope to be engaged in resource issues, that have been the center focus of most of my professional career,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat form that takes is something that I鈥檝e not thought a lot about yet. I鈥檝e just been trying to think about how best to manage Yellowstone.鈥�
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
Copyright 2020 Yellowstone Public Radio. To see more, visit . 9(MDAxNDQ2NDAxMDEyNzU2NzM2ODA3ZGI1ZA001))
