Subject: Forwarded: Whistleblowers not Snowblowers? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: From: Dave Iverson:R04A Date: Apr 08,92 9:54 AM While Forest Service dissidents continue to highlight what they perceive to be violations of the public trust by federal land managers and pork-barrel minded politicians, the Forest Service is on record as labeling them "out of touch." Maybe so.... But maybe not.... This year Eco-Watch will try (with your help) to acquaint readers with three relatively new sources of insight into the environment/development controversies that rage worldwide. "Environmental Ethics" is a journal of philosophical thought about the magic that Aldo Leopold wrought when he suggested that ethics ought to be broadened "from people to land." It's been around for 12 years now. Ecological Economics is a two year old journal highlighting a new-found discussion between ecologists and economists. Environmental Values is brand new and will shed new light on valuation. All three should help us us sort out wisdom amid all the talk and allegations. That said, take a look at the 2 pages that follow, tracing the most recent battle between the Forest Service and its dissidents. And help me keep my promise to you to use new sources and old ones to see what is behind this "greening" of the Forest Service that environmental dissidents are calling for..... Dve... -------========X========------- From: NEWSTAB Delivered: Tue 7-Apr-92 0:16 EDT Sys 197 (105) Subject: FOREST SERVICE :forest service scientists who say their zealous prote * AP Full (Datas Mail Id: IPM-197-920407-002540734 Scientists Do Battle With Their Bosses By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) _ Colleagues call them "combat biologists" _ Forest Service scientists who say their zealous protection of national forests has touched off a war with federal managers bent on logging. Wildlife biologist Francis Mangels told Congress last week his environmental assessments were rewritten to accommodate logging plans in California. Karin Heiman claims she lost her Forest Service job in North Carolina because she objected to orders that she inspect a proposed timber sale area for rare plants when the ground was covered with snow. And Marynell Oechsner says there is "blatant resource mismanagement" on Montana's Kootenai National Forest. "The timber cut came first and woe to anyone who gets in the way," she says. Scientists were "browbeaten and intimidated to follow the leader and their professional judgment was discredited and discarded when it did not meet with management's approval," Oechsner told Congress recently. She said she had complained after believing that superiors ignored her concerns about the adverse effect a logging plan would have on grizzly bears. She later was transferred to a different part of Kootenai. "Taking a stand for wildlife precipitated a threat of removal, reassignment or demotion," she told the House Government Operations subcommittee on environment, energy and natural resources. These and other scientists have banded together, joining the 2,000 past and present Forest Service workers who are members of the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. "They are battling their own supervisors to meet environmental laws the Forest Service is supposed to be upholding," said AFSEE founder Jeff DeBonis of Eugene, Ore., a former timber sale planner for 12 years. "They are being harassed and intimidated into falsifying reports so logging can continue," he said last week. The Government Operations subcommittee and the House civil service subcommittee are looking into their allegations. Forest Service Chief Dale Robertson insists his Agriculture Department agency is committed to the environment, and to underscore that assertion he sent a message early this year to all employees. "As I have stated many times, if you suspect you will violate environmental laws or forest plan standards and guidelines, stop," Robertson said. Forest Service officials have denied they retaliated against Mangels, Heiman, Oechsner or any other whistleblower. They say personnel regulations prohibit them from discussing any of the cases in detail. Robertson encouraged agency workers to contact him anonymously through a post office box if they had evidence of wrongdoing. But John McCormick isn't convinced the plea is sincere. A special agent for the service since 1976, McCormick accused administrators of logging illegally, censoring scientific data and punishing workers who objected, including himself. McCormick should know. He's the former head of the Forest Service's whistleblower program, which evaluates complaints from employees alleging mismanagement inside the agency. He retired from his job in January before leveling his charges to the civil service subcommittee. "After chasing bad guys for 34 years I've come to the conclusion I've been treated better by the bad guys than by the people in the Forest Service," McCormick said. The dissidents have gone public with new vigor since Congress began investigating their allegations last fall. "We are no longer isolated employees standing up alone to battle the giants," DeBonis said last week during a whistleblower conference at Georgetown University. The private Government Accountability Project, which provides lawyers for whistleblowers, says there is a pattern of suppression of scientific dissent. Take the case of Lorraine Mintzmyer, 56, a regional director for the National Park Service. She announced her resignation last week after alleging there was political pressure from the White House to ignore environmental concerns at Yellowstone National Park. Mintzmyer testified under a congressional subpoena last September along with John Mumma, the Forest Service's former regional chief in the northern Rockies. Mumma claims he was forced from his job when he resisted pressure to log excessively. But Forest Service spokesman Andy Fisher said DeBonis and others are out of touch. "I suspect there was a time in the 1970s and before that the timber was cut without serious consideration of environmental standards," Fisher said. "But over the last 10 years, at least that long, the environmental laws have been a very serious consideration in terms of anything done in the Forest Service." AP-DS-04-07-92 0005EDT