Brad Loveless will be stepping down as secretary of wildlife, parks and tourism after serving in that role throughout Gov. Laura Kelly’s tenure.
He will retire next year after a new secretary is named.
Loveless came to the Kelly administration after serving as the senior director of environmental conservation and sustainability at Westar Energy, managing environmental stewardship.
Previously, he was the director of biology and conservation programs. Earlier, he held several environmental management positions at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation.
Raised in Ohio, Loveless earned a bachelor’s in zoology from Ohio State University and a master’s in biology from the University of Kansas.
He worked for Westar Energy for 31 years, the first 12 years being at Wolf Creek Nuclear Station.
During Loveless’ tenure at parks and wildlife, the Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park and the Lehigh Portland State Park were established, and Kansas’ Flint Hills Trail was added to the National Trails System.
Under his leadership, the agency opened an additional research facility and successfully stocked three protected species – Plains minnows and Neosho and Fatmucket mussels.
“Congratulations to Secretary Brad Loveless on his well-deserved retirement,” Kelly said in a statement.
“I thank him for his commitment to conservation, to our state parks, and to ensuring Kansans can enjoy the great outdoors for generations to come. His expertise will be greatly missed,” the governor said.
During his term, Loveless took a cautious approach to environmental protections.
Two years ago, Loveless urged the federal government not to impose new protections for the lesser prairie chicken, saying the states are in the best position to protect the bird’s habitat.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks told regulators that the lesser prairie chicken didn’t warrant additional federal protections that would come with being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“The available information does not indicate the species is ‘likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable throughout all or a significant portion of its range,’” Loveless wrote.
Loveless said a federal decision to step in and impose more protections – above and beyond what Kansas law already provides – would interfere with state efforts to protect the bird and breed distrust with landowners.
“Whether a listing is determined to be warranted or not, the state wildlife management agencies remain the best source of management authority and conservation actions” for the lesser pairie chicken, Loveless wrote to the agency.
The secretary said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t have the staff in Kansas – or anywhere else for that matter – to do the work needed to preserve the bird’s habitat.
During a legislative hearing two years ago, Loveless said the Kelly administration had urged the federal government to take a cautious approach with an ambitious and controversial plan to conserve 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030.
Testifying before a special legislative committee exploring the implications of the Biden administration’s 30 by 30 plan, Loveless said federal officials should take steps to allay concerns that the plan is a “land grab.”
Biden issued an executive order creating what became known as the 30 by 30 plan, but there is still uncertainty about how its goals will be accomplished and what effect, if any, it would have on Kansas property owners.
The plan – with so many unknowns – had stirred fears that the government wanted to take private property as part of its efforts to protect natural resources and endangered species.
“This proclamation came out…but there wasn’t any flesh on the bones, there weren’t any details,” Loveless told lawmakers at that time.
“So in that vacuum, a lot of ideas have emerged,” he said.
“Because of speculation about what 30 by 30 might be, we advised the Fish and Wildlife Service to clearly say what it’s not because they knew what they didn’t intend, but they didn’t say that,” he said.
