Update: Below are the correct links for the NBC story.
Here’s the Dateline story that aired on Friday night
https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/under-fire-1311215683836?v=raila
and here’s additional online content
https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/stories-from-the-forest-1310933571573?v=raila
https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/change-in-the-forest-1310587459615?v=raila
https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/trailblazers-1310561347906?v=raila
https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/dateline-friday-preview-1309893187611?v=raila
Here’s the note on it from the interim Chief
“To All Forest Service Employees,
Tonight, Dateline NBC is expected to air a segment about the Forest Service that addresses alleged incidents of sexual harassment in this agency. I want you to know that these stories are important. We should continue to learn from employees’ perspectives and reflect on our individual roles in continuing to maintain a work environment where these experiences are not possible, because who we aspire to be shows up in all of our interactions with each other.
I’ve said before, but I can’t say it enough: every single one of you, every single employee in the Forest Service, is our most valued asset in this agency. Everywhere I go, I see employees with a deep appreciation for the higher purpose that unites all of us.
As I shared with you during the recent all-hands call, my experience early in my career motivates me to be personally committed to continue to build the skills we need to succeed together in this agency. I hope you will each join me in that ongoing commitment.
We can fulfill our mission only if we have a work environment that is safe, respectful, rewarding and free from harassment and retaliation of any kind. We need to continue to find ways to bring our agency core values and our commitments to life in our workplace every day.
Our efforts have been notable. We’re learning to get better every day. We updated our anti-harassment policy, engaged an employee advisory group, and we are rolling out bystander intervention training. We have also just dedicated a senior executive, Leslie Weldon, to focus exclusively on improving our work environment. I provided a more thorough update on the status of this work during the recent employee call. If you missed it, you can read a summary and listen to the call in last week’s Leadership Corner.
I can’t thank you enough for what you do and your commitment to the mission of this agency in serving the American people. We have lots of opportunities and only together can we continue to propel this agency forward.”
Thank you,
Vicki
Thanks for sharing the link. These stories make me so angry. And they make me wonder why the FS hasn’t taken on a Nike-style house-cleaning. There is a jarring lack of leadership, and the housecleaning needs to start at the Regional Forester level and go all the way down to the district crew boss level and maybe even lower. I shouldn’t be surprised, given the lack of leadership that so many employees have noticed. But it still makes me angry. The Forest Service needs to 100% outsource the harassment reporting and investigations to a neutral outside party.
Amen, Sister! I just added some additional links to the NBC stories so the post is updated.