Craig Manson, who as assistant secretary of the Interior Department under Gale Norton was responsible for overseeing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service, resigned yesterday. According to reports, he left to take a teaching position at the University of the Pacific's law school. Manson, deeply disliked by environmentalists, was a staunch critic of the “critical habitat” provision of the Endangered Species Act, a section of the law that governs what land must be preserved in order to save species from extinction.

Manson was instrumental in helping the House of Representatives pass a revision of the ESA that essentially dismantles critical habitat requirements and forces the feds to pay landowners if their development plans are choked by the presence of endangered plants or animals on their property. That revision, authored by Rep. Richard Pombo, has not yet been reviewed by the Senate. A property-rights advocate like his boss, Manson wrote in his letter of resignation that the Interior Department has “welcomed back the perspectives of hunters, anglers and private landowners whose participation is vital to conservation in America.”

Photo credit: U.S. Department of the Interior