Battalion Chief Resigns From USFS

Letter of resignation from Battalion Chief (District AFMO) on the Kern River Ranger District of the Sequoia NF in the Pacific Southwest Region.

E&E Daily has an article on this today: “Forest Service’s sexual harassment plan: Ban alcohol.” Mentions the letter.

1 thought on “Battalion Chief Resigns From USFS”

  1. Here’s the link to the E&E News article https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/2019/04/10/stories/1060151795 .. I didn’t see it above.

    From Bolt’s letter:
    “The failure in “leaders”, from the District to Washington Office level, to demonstrate moral courage by adhering to high ethical standards and choosing the difficult rightover the easy wrong helped me in determining my decision to resign.”

    I’m against harassment as much as anyone, but I have to wonder if “moral courage and adhering to high ethical standards” is really the problem. Take Pope Francis.. most people think highly of his morality and ethics, and yet he leads an organization that hasn’t made a 180 degree turnaround. And the military still has a problem. And universities. Maybe it’s just really difficult to completely turn around a large organization. Moral and ethical standards by themselves can’t do it.

    I have had several bosses who really knew how to get things done in the FS. The people who, once someone had set the course, could get all the gears and levers moving in the right direction, by whatever organizational alchemy they were gifted with and had honed through time. And of course one big bureaucratic challenge, keeping attention focused when other alligators come up to bite your behind.

    Maybe what the FS really needs is a team of these folks to figure out what to do, do it, and report on it. Maybe even some retirees, who have no skin in the game of the current power network. Just a thought.

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