Veil of silence descends upon BNF

by Michael Howell

Although no one will say that there is an official “gag order” in place, employees at the Bitterroot National Forest are, across the board, refusing to answer inquiries from the press about almost anything until their responses have been vetted. This includes questions ranging from the number of employees who have recently been fired or subsequently reinstated, to the status of ongoing forest projects, to whether wolverines have recently been spotted on the forest and more. No one seems to know who exactly is doing the vetting. Previously scheduled public engagements to discuss current activities in progress on the forest have also been cancelled. 

In February, it stated in a lawsuit filed by a group of federal worker labor unions and various nonprofits against the federal Office of Personnel Management that, out of thousands of employees from several government agencies, about 3,400 or so (the numbers keep changing) were working for the USDA Forest Service with about 360 being from Region 1 which includes the Bitterroot National Forest.

When this reporter inquired with the Bitterroot National Forest Public Affairs officer Tod McKay to confirm the number fired on this forest, I was referred to a Public Affairs officer in the Regional Office in Missoula, Alex Stewart, who said that this information was not immediately available but that the goal was “to make sure the public got timely and accurate information.” She recommended if I needed the information immediately that there were some numbers published in a recent newspaper article in the Bozeman Chronicle that she presumed to be accurate. 

In that paper I found an article by Lee Newspaper Reporter Joshua Murdock, stating that out of the 360 employees fired in Region 1, most of those, about 300, were in Montana. Of those, 30 were on the Bitterroot National Forest. Murdock got his numbers from the top labor union official representing employees in Region 1, Terri Anderson.

According to court records, the letters sent out to all the probationary employees were essentially the same, stating that “The [a]gency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the [a]gency would be in the public interest.”

By March 5, however, federal Merit Systems Protection Board Chair Cathy Harris ordered that the roughly 5,000 or 6,000 fired USDA employees be reinstated for 45 days, or until April 18, while she came to a determination on whether it was legal for the government to fire them without previously documenting their alleged poor performance.

Since then, two federal judges issued separate orders finding that the firings were illegal and requiring that the employees be reinstated with back pay. According to a story in the New York Times one of those judges, Judge William Alsup, a senior federal district court judge for the Northern District of California, stated verbally in court that the firings were “a sham in order to avoid the statutory requirements” involved in initiating a Reduction in Force (RIF).

Judge Alsup was quoted further saying, “It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance,” he said, “when they know good and well that’s a lie.” He said a Reduction In Force could be done, “if it’s done correctly under the law.”

The Trump administration has begun that process, but in the meantime the USDA issued a press release stating that, “By Wednesday, March 12, the Department will place all terminated probationary employees in pay status and provide each with back pay, from the date of termination. The Department will work quickly to develop a phased plan for return-to-duty, and while those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid.”

On March 14, the Bitterroot Star contacted Bitterroot National Forest Public Affairs officer Tod McKay concerning a letter that a local non-profit organization had received regarding the Eastside Forest and Habitat Improvement Project being put on hold while the agency consults with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the potential impacts on endangered species and endangered species habitat. McKay said I should talk to the Stevensville District Ranger directly about the project because he didn’t have any specific information about that.

When I contacted Stevensville District Ranger Seth Romocki, I asked him about the project. 

“I’m going to have to get back to you on that one. I’m just not sure what I can comment on or not,” Romocki said. “Let me know your questions and I will get back to you.” 

I said that I had heard that a letter had been sent out to some organizations who had filed a Notice of Intent to litigate, stating that the project had been put on hold while the agency consults with USFWS about impacts on some endangered species.

“Let me get back to you on that one,” he said, “because I just don’t know what I can or cannot comment on with different things happening.”

I said I also had some questions about the recent press release from the USDA saying that some employees who had been fired recently were being reinstated.

“I don’t have any more information than what was released by the USDA on that,” said Romocki.

Asked if there were people in his office that were fired, he said, “yes.” 

Asked how many, he said “I don’t know off the top of my head and would have to go look but it impacted the Forest Service as a whole at every level.”

Asked about a recent sighting of wolverines I had recently heard about from a member of the public, he said he didn’t know anything about it. He said he could check on that.

I asked about the number of people fired and the number reinstated.

Romocki then went over a list he had made of all my questions to be sure he got them all and said, ”I’ll see what I can do. I just don’t know what I can pass on or not pass on. It’s just really a strange time right now because there is just so much stuff happening.”

After talking to the District Ranger, I called a number I had been given by the local Public Affairs officer and asked all the same questions and about the vetting process that was going on.

PA officer Alex Stewart said that her job was to be sure that the public received timely and accurate information, “But right now we are waiting along with the public to get that information.”

“So, you can’t give me any information because you don’t have it?” I said.

“Well, it just needs to be vetted through proper sources right now, that’s just the kind of situation we are in right now. Our goal is to always provide timely and accurate information. I can try to get to the right people to answer these questions.”

Asked if there were any questions she could answer, she said she was not an over-all Public Affairs officer and worked mainly on fires but was standing in temporarily for the regular PA officer.

“So, you could answer questions about fires?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, “but I would still have to vet those questions. We are in a transitional state.”

Neither the District Ranger nor any Public Affairs officers I spoke with got back to me with any answers.

But on March 17, the Bitterroot Star did receive this email from the press desk in Washington D.C.:

Greetings, 

I’m responding to the inquiry posted at the bottom of this message. Here’s what we can share:

Thanks for your inquiry. For the Eastside Project, it’s important to share there are no commercial timber harvests associated with the project, and no roads are planned to be built or reconstructed. 

Additional information about the Eastside Project is available here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=59985

Here’s what we can share that relates to some of your questions: 

Attributable to a USDA Spokesperson: “Secretary Rollins fully supports the President’s directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies and strengthen USDA’s many services to the American people. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy. As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service. To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters. Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA funding. It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration hired thousands of people with no plan in place to pay them long term. Secretary Rollins is committed to preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted.”

Regarding your question on reinstating those who were released: “On Wednesday, March 5, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a 45-day stay on the termination of U.S. Department of Agriculture probationary employees. By Wednesday, March 12, the Department placed all terminated probationary employees in pay status and provided each with back pay, from the date of termination. The Department will work quickly to develop a phased plan for return-to-duty, and while those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid.” 

Finally, it has always been Forest Service policy that media inquiries are coordinated by a Public Affairs staff member. This is to ensure media representatives receive the most accurate and current information. 

We do not have additional information to share at this time.