New deputy director of national parks service is no friend of flora

The National Park Service has a new acting director and, guess what, he has a history of breaking the rules. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the appointment of retired NPS official Paul Daniel Smith to the agency’s number one job. This is a man who was once reprimanded after a departmental investigation found that he "inappropriately used his position to apply pressure and circumvent NPS procedures" to allow Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder to cut down more than 130 native trees on federally owned land in 2004. Why? Well, to improve the view of the Potomac River from his estate, of course. “It is an honor and a privilege to return to Washington, D.C.,” said Smith. Ladies and gentlemen of the National Park Service, you may start your chainsaws.