Babbitt telephoned Nevada agency workers out of concern about threats

Scott Sonner

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 10:25 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Fish and Wildlife Service officials in Nevada say they don't believe they have a problem with threats against wildlife refuge workers.

Nevertheless, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt telephoned agency officials in Nevada to discuss the matter after he heard about the recent resignation of Forest Service supervisor Gloria Flora.

One former manager of a refuge in Nevada told The Associated Press he was the victim of intimidation, but declined to discuss the incident in detail.

Speaking on the condition he not be identified, the official said he understands why the incidents go unreported.

"If you let these people know they are getting to you, it only gets worse. That's why you don't report it," the official said.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a worker advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., is trying to persuade the Fish and Wildlife Service to follow in the steps of the Forest Service and begin uniform tracking of all threats against agency workers.

The group released a survey Tuesday that shows 32 percent of refuge managers who answered a questionnaire say they have experienced some sort of trouble over the course of their career.

The topic has been of recent concern in Nevada, where Flora announced her resignation partly in protest of what she said were threats and harassment of her employees in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

In the forest, the Elko county government and states rights supporters are fighting the federal government to allow construction of a road that environmental regulators say would hurt the threatened bull trout.

"Obviously, Gloria Flora's resignation and the whole Jarbidge situation has elevated the awareness level here," said Randi Thompson, a spokeswoman for Bob Williams, the Fish and Wildlife Service's director in Nevada.

Williams, Flora and Bob Abbey, Nevada state director for the Bureau of Land Management, met with U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth this summer to address the concerns, Thompson said.

Because the Fish and Wildlife Service has not been especially visible in the fight over the bull trout or other sensitive issues, such as reintroduction of wild wolves, agency officials in Nevada don't track threats against workers, said Thompson.

"I don't think that's a case of neglect on our part. It just hasn't been needed. If that need changes, we will respond to it," Thompson said.

"Babbitt called Bob Williams personally and our chief biologist (last month) to make sure they were okay and to learn a bit more on what was happening out at Jarbidge," she said.

In addition, when Williams went to Elko to testify at a congressional hearing in November, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Clark "called that morning to say 'If you don't feel safe, don't go.' But we did," she said.