Reaction To Reported New National Park Service Director

These days, anything that goes on in Washington D.C. creates a buzz, no matter what side of the aisle you prefer to view your political theater from. So the reported new director of the National Park Service, P. Daniel Smith, probably wasn’t going to be met with no comments, or in his case, significant resistance.

https://twitter.com/hinesy65/status/950063541540843520

It’s not even 3 p.m. on a Monday, so expect more backlash, but Smith’s connection to controversial Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is trending.

An ex-National Park Service official who improperly helped the owner of the Washington Redskins cut down more than 130 trees to improve a river view at his Potomac estate has been chosen by the Trump admin to be one of the agency’s top leaders. https://t.co/4oYgIL5yt4

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 7, 2018

Here’s more from the New York Daily News:

Smith retired from NPS in 2014, but a decade earlier he got into hot water as special assistant to the agency’s director.

He reportedly acted as middle man when Snyder wanted 130 trees removed at Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park so he could have a better view of the Potomac River from his Maryland mansion.

He told staff at the park “Snyder was not happy with the pace of negotiations with NPS concerning the scenic easement,” according to National Parks Traveler.

The inspector general for the Interior Department in 2006 found Smith “inappropriately used his position to apply pressure and circumvent NPS procedures” to get the trees cut down.

Snyder wasn’t accused of wrongdoing for removing 50,000 square feet of trees, which were replaced by saplings, in the 2006 inspector general’s report, according to the Washington Post.

Smith, however, was accused of forcing subordinates to give the clearing a greenlight without allowing environmental experts or the public to weigh in.

By that point, he’d been moved to Colonial National Historical Park. Smith told the Washington Post in 2006 he’d been reprimanded but committed “nothing tawdry.”

“It was a legitimate request by a landowner who had a legitimate issue with the Park Service,” he said.

Twitter had a field day with Smith’s reported appointment by the Trump administration:

P. Daniel Smith's actions are a disgrace to what the National Park Service is all about. OF COURSE that's the person trump would pick. I'm utterly disgusted. https://t.co/J8pnuf4jgW

— Hillary was right! (@AprilStearns) January 7, 2018

https://twitter.com/brianscalifgirl/status/949997949794357248

@NatlParkService care to offer a stance on P. Daniel Smith? I guess @SecretaryZinke is really setting the bar low for fed employees these days.

— Shlomo (@yourbuddyshlomo) January 7, 2018

SAT analogy alert (can't make this stuff up)–

P. Daniel Smith: National Park Service
Scott Pruit: EPA
Jeff Sessions: DOJ
I fear the list goes on.
https://t.co/nCRpB3v2Bh

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) January 6, 2018

https://twitter.com/Timothy_Cama/status/950404323615354880