STATEMENT OF THE VET VOICE FOUNDATION, ON RESIGNATION OF RYAN ZINKE

Washington, DC — Garett Reppenhagen, Rocky Mountain Director for the Vet Voice Foundation, released the following statement about the resignation of Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke:
Ryan Zinke has done irreparable harm to veterans who use public lands to find peace and healing by eliminating protections and restricting access to lands. Despite his promises, he failed to fight for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, America’s most successful conservation program, and allowed it to expire on his watch.

“Zinke’s tenure was characterized by gross misuse of tax payer dollars to line his own pockets and those of oil and gas companies at the expense of veterans and all Americans who use public lands. He will be remembered as a man who, instead of putting service before self, put the Department of Interior in service to himself.”
The Vet Voice Foundation has been a defender of the LWCF, and public lands at-large, for years. Veterans rely on public lands to heal from the mental wounds of war, and LWCF helps protect historic battlefields, that preserve our military history.