US Forest Service Stands up to Political Meddling
12/1/98
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Title: US Forest Service Stands up to Political Meddling
Source: Earth Times News Service
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/1/98
Byline: Mark Muro
The US Forest Service has not always maintained its independence in the
face of political harassment. Last month, though, at least one unit of
that agency distinguished itself by telling a meddlesome Congressman to
take a hike on an outrageous bit of tampering.
That unit is the beleaguered Southwest region of the Forest Service,
headed by Regional Forester Ellie Towns.
Last July, Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska, wrote Towns
demanding that she divulge which of her employees "are members of" or
"have any contact with" Arizona or New Mexico environmental groups--as if
there was anything wrong with that in the first place. This demand Young
issued out of pique that the Forest Service had very properly agreed to
limit cattle grazing in 11 Southwest forests in order to settle a lawsuit
by Arizona's Southwest Center for Biological Diversity.
At the time observers feared the agency might cave in to Young and set a
terrible precedent of inappropriate deference to threats. Yet now it
appears that Towns, at least on this matter, is beyond such intimidation.
Recently, Towns rebuffed Young and defended her employees from the
Congressman's insinuations of biased dealing.
"The Forest Service doees not track the membership of employees in
organizations," she said curtly. Also, she noted, the service has no
interest in its workers' personal life and "encourages" their
participation in "their communities."
In short, Towns rejected out of hand a rogue misuse of Congress's
legitimate oversight power that infringed on Federal employees' privacy
and could have chilled beneficial personal and professional contacts
between land managers and the community. For this Ellie Towns and the
Forest Service deserve the public's gratitude. By reasserting that there
is nothing wrong with being an environmentalist, they have stood
up for independent environmental management in a partisan time.
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