As Outdoor America went to press, the U.S. Senate was considering nominees to lead the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

EPA Administrator: Prior to his nomination, Scott Pruitt served as Attorney General in Oklahoma. In that position, he challenged major federal actions, including in lawsuits against EPA, to conserve and protect natural resources, including the national plan to reduce air pollution from power plants and restoring Clean Water Act protections to streams and wetlands.

Secretary of the Interior: When nominated, Ryan Zinke had just been re-elected to a second term as the U.S. Representative for Montana. During his first term in Congress, he backed a comprehensive sportsmen’s bill (which the League supported) and opposed selling or transferring federal public lands to states. Zinke previously served more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy.

Secretary of Agriculture: Former two-term Georgia governor Sonny Perdue holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine, served in the U.S. Air Force, and has owned businesses involved with grain and feed processing, farm transportation, and crop export.

Leaders of these agencies are charged with implementing laws and policies that protect and conserve our air, water, and public lands and ensure sustainable management of natural resources that are vital to public health, our economy, and future generations. As more specific agendas for conservation and environmental protection are formulated by the new administration and Congress, the League will carefully evaluate them based on the principles that have guided us for generations, including science-based decision-making, sustainable management of natural resources for the long term, and ensuring healthy natural resources support abundant outdoor recreation.