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Earth Day Founder's Daughter Leaves State Agency that Banned Climate Change Talk

Tia Nelson has resigned from her job with the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Nelson has served as the agency's executive secretary since 2004. Her father was Earth Day Founder and late Wisconsin U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson.

In April, the board prohibited Nelson and her staff from talking about climate change on the job or working on issues related to climate change. The ban came, after board member and State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk insisted the agency remove all climate change references from its website.

The primary mission of the public lands board is to manage the lands the federal government gave the state more than 100 years ago and the one billion dollars in assets the state has accrued from the lands it sold. Much of the money benefits school libraries.

According to the WSJ, Nelson has accepted a job with a Madison-based science and education foundation.