The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views

Here is the coverage from Government Executive: Two points first, Gov Exec reporting.

While training in fire-fighting, she was called a ***** and was told she would have to ***** to keep her job, she said. Male supervisors threatened to “bend me over and spank me,” she testified. She was tripped, pushed and kicked.

When Reed left the National Park Service operations at the Grand Canyon in 2015 to transfer to the Forest Service, “little did I know I was going from the frying pan to the fire,” she said. Men told her she was “unwelcome as a female” and “seen as a sex object” who had “no right to the job.”

Some of the worst quotes in the NPR story here actually were from the Park Service part of her testimony, based on what GovExec reported. Not that the FS is any better.. but.. for accuracy.

What I thought was interesting about this Gov Exec reporting is that they added the context of the Park Service to the story about the House heaing. The FS (Christiansen and Vela) have what appears to be variants of the same problem (and other Interior agencies may, and since Ms. Reed’s worst stories have to do with fire, and fire is interagency) doesn’t it make sense for these agencies to work together or try the same things, or consciously try different things and compare? It sounds like they are all independent efforts. Could this be a problem?

“Changing a culture is a multi-pronged effort,” Christiansen said, adding that any large organization has a population of mostly good people but some “who don’t do the right thing.” She said she “would like to say [we could do] it in six months, but with an agency that’s 112 years old with a mission of getting a critical job done in remote locations—[it won’t be done] overnight.”

Reed, who identified herself as one of the 34 women, said her case of being fired after retaliation has not been closed. She said the new Forest Service remedies “have no real application in reducing sexual harassment.” The process is a “failure and a waste of money” that “has not made a safe environment for reporting sexual harassment,” she added. She still knows women who are being forced to have sex with their supervisors, Reed said.

On the Senate side, Raymond David Vela, a 28-year career Park Service employee whom Trump nominated to head the agency in August, told the Energy and Natural Resources panel that his agency “had made great strides” but in some ways had still “fallen short” in creating “a workplace that treats them with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

Vela called harassment “a scourge” for the service and society. “We will continue to hold people accountable,” he said. “We’re in a better place, with better reporting, subject-matter experts and a defined process.” But he said he was still learning what “takes place in the field, where we haven’t had adequate reporting and protocols.” The NPS is “not quite there yet on accountability,” Vela said. “Every leader in the Park Service must own this,” and it will be used in their performance evaluation process.

NPR’s headline was Forest Service Chief says “it will take longer than any of us want.” I think that that’s a true statement. What was missing from the NPR story IMHO was any context of other efforts by other kinds of agencies.

Just for reference, let’s look at the military’s annual report on assault, not harassment.

Out of those 2,218 cases in which commanders had evidence to take action, 1,446 received action on at least one sexual assault charge; 774, or 54 percent, of the 1,446 cases were entered into the court-martial process, while the remaining cases received adverse administrative actions or discharges (378 cases) or were administered nonjudicial punishment (294 cases). The remaining 772 cases had no evidence of a sexual assault crime, but resulted in disciplinary action on some other form of misconduct discovered during the course of the sexual assault investigation, such as physical assault, making a false official statement or underage drinking.

Here’s the link. If anyone wants to watch and report, please comment below.

There was a radio show with Shannon Reed, Lesa Donnelly and Lawrence Lucas on Blog Talk Radio. The link is here. I think it was Lesa that said some pretty derogatory things about the Chief and other women leaders in the FS (to my mind, uncalled-for). It does give you insight into what some of the players will say in a less formal environment than an Oversight Hearing.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will receive an update this week on the Forest Service’s response to a history of sexual misconduct in the agency, as complaints about officials’ response continue to surface.

Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen is among the witnesses scheduled to testify Thursday. Since taking charge of the Forest Service in March, she has put a new reporting system in place and vowed to change the workplace culture — but reports of harassment and retaliation against those who report it have persisted, according to Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).

The hearing follows a letter Gowdy wrote to the Department of Agriculture — which oversees the Forest Service — on Oct. 22, requesting documents and information related to sexual misconduct and the agency’s response. He had asked the department to comply by Nov. 5.

News reports this year have shed light on a long history of harassment and similar behavior within the agency, especially in firefighting crews. The scandal reached the top of the agency earlier this year, when Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke resigned amid reports about a romantic relationship he had a decade earlier with a lower-ranking agency employee, when he was a forest supervisor.

Christiansen has overseen the development of a new system to confidentially report incidents, as well as mandatory anti-harassment training for employees. USDA’s Office of the Inspector General has been looking into the issues, and Inspector General Phyllis K. Fong is scheduled to testify.

But a group of current and former Forest Service employees complained in a Nov. 9 letter to Christiansen and lawmakers that the department’s efforts have fallen flat and that officials haven’t responded to letters from the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees outlining many incidents.

“We women continue to be discriminated against, harassed, endured sexual and physical abuse, and experienced retaliation,” they wrote, asking for a meeting with Christiansen. “The Coalition had no choice but to seek congressional hearings and contact news media, radio media and television media to expose the serious issues of discrimination, harassment, and workplace violence against female employees.”

Retaliation against employees, including denial of training and fire assignments, and false disciplinary charges, has occurred since March, when Christiansen became interim chief after Tooke resigned, they said.

The current and former employees also asked to be included in meetings with USDA and the Forest Service “to collaborate on problem solving,” and they predicted that some of the signers of the letter will be “illegally fired.”

Schedule: The hearing is Thursday, Nov. 15, at 10 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn.

Witnesses:

Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen.
Phyllis Fong, USDA inspector general.
Shannon Reed, air quality specialist and former employee, Forest Service.

Does anyone have a copy of the Nov. 9 letter to Christiansen? Please email to me or attach in comments.