Under the Trump administration, the Department Of The Interior has declared open season on national monuments and wildlife refuges, with Secretary Ryan Zinke recently signing an order that gives hunters more access to public lands. This comes after Trump asked Zinke to review the 27 national monuments that were created since 1996, because the current president if nothing if not eager to tear undo the work of his predecessors. Zinke’s recommendations are, naturally, to reduce the size of at least six national monuments, The Verge reports, as well as open several up to commercial fishing and logging, which doesn’t sound like he wants to conserve much at all.
Significant pushback is expected, but in the meantime, Zinke’s ramping up excitement for these proposed raids on our natural resources by adding a Big Buck Hunter Pro arcade game to the Interior Department’s cafeteria. The Interior Secretary’s already tweeted photos of this #ShotgunShowdown, which, incidentally, he’s already lost:
In a statement (via CNN), the Interior Secretary writes that the game’s addition is an attempt to get “employees involved in sportmen’s season, in turn furthering the department’s mission of wildlife and habitat conservation.” Whoever wins the Secretary’s Shotgun Showdown will score “bragging rights and a personal visit with the secretary,” though it looks the guy who already beat Zinke has technically won already.
