Chief of Forest Service hears Nevada concerns

Scott Sonner

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 4:39 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Forest Service workers appealed to Chief Mike Dombeck Thursday to come experience for himself the politically charged, "toxic atmosphere" in Nevada that prompted their supervisor's resignation.

Dombeck said during a 90-minute teleconference with employees of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest he was concerned about their plight and would try to visit soon.

The national forest, the largest in the Lower 48 states, is caught up in a series of increasingly heated disputes over property rights.

Thirty-six employees told Dombeck in a letter last week the "shocking" resignation of forest supervisor Gloria Flora on Nov. 8 adds to a "toxic atmosphere" that is "spinning rapidly out of control."

"The resignation of Gloria Flora is a cry for help in a part of the country where cries often get lost in the wind," the workers said in a Nov. 10 letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Flora said in a letter to her employees last week she was resigning in protest of an "anti-federal fervor" in Nevada. She said federal land managers fear for their safety in the state and conservation advocates are afraid to speak out.

Forest Service workers in rural Nevada are shunned in their communities, "refused service in restaurants, kicked out of motels" just because of who they work for," Flora said.

A Forest Service law officer in Carson City warned Flora in September that agency workers in the state feared for their safety partly because federal prosecutors aren't going after criminals who break laws and threaten them.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Las Vegas has declined to prosecute dozens of cases referred to it by the Forest Service since 1990 - at least 21 felonies and 52 misdemeanors involving more than 100 people, special agent Wayne Smith reported in a Sept. 3 memo obtained by AP.

The 36 employees' who signed the new letter to Dombeck last week said Flora decided to resign "in order to draw attention to the untenable situation in which she and many of the employees in Nevada find themselves. ...

"Our letter to you is to let you know that the depth of the problem is beyond even what Ms. Flora has expressed in her letter to the employees," they wrote.

"The toxic atmosphere that National Forest System land management decisions are negotiated in within this state is a reflection of efforts by a local minority ... These organized groups and individuals have tacit, or outright, elected-official backing and encouragement."

Dombeck said during a teleconference with agency workers in Nevada on Thursday that he supported Flora "for doing what she believes is right."

He urged the employees to take any concerns they have all the way up the Forest Service chain of command.

"Each voice should be heard," Dombeck said. "It is the foundation of the collaborative and cooperative environment fostered by the Forest Service. Any threat to safety - perceived or real - is a detriment to the collaborative process."

The workers said in their letter last week that local animosity developed with the initiation of the "Sagebrush Rebellion" in the 1980s and progressed with the bombing of a Forest Service ranger's office and residence in the mid-90s.

It continued with states-rights confrontations with elected officials of Nye County and "has evolved into the present venomous attitude by elected officials of Elko County and United States Congressional Representatives," the letter said.

The latest dispute centers on Elko County's determination to rebuild a washed out road on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in a remote part of northeast Nevada.

Forest Service biologists say the reconstruction of the road would harm the threatened bull trout. But a group of citizens led by State Assemblyman John Carpenter have said they intend to rebuild the road anyway.

"The circumstances that confront employees trying to carry out work of National Forest System management in the Elko area are spinning rapidly out of control," the workers said in the appeal to Dombeck.

"We the employees of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest who have chosen to sign this letter, urge you to somehow address the situation of employee safety, harassment and general disrespect for the laws of the nation by focusing your attention and position on finding a way to calm the rhetoric and ease the tensions."