Most of the seats on the National Park System Advisory Board are now empty after nine of its 12 members abruptly resigned Monday.
According to a report from The Washington Post, the members decided to quit after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke refused to meet with them.
The outlet obtained a letter written on behalf of the resigning members. It read, in part, "Our requests to engage have been ignored and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are clearly not part of its agenda."
The board was created in 1935 to advise the director of the National Park Service and the interior secretary on matters relating to the National Park Service — including the designation of national historic landmarks and national natural landmarks.
As of early Wednesday morning, the Interior Department has yet to comment on the resignations.
