BREAKING NEWS

Northern Region’s Kimbell Replaces Bosworth as Forest Service Chief

By Headwaters News, 1-12-07

	Caption: Gail Kimbell. Photo courtesy of the Forest Service's Northern Region.

This morning the Salt Lake Tribune ran a breaking Associated Press story that U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth had announced his retirement.

Later, Headwaters News Assistant Editor Daniel Berger confirmed with Forest Service Spokesman Bobbie Mixon that Gail Kimbell, Regional Forester for The Northern Region in Missoula, Mont. will replace Bosworth as the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Bosworth will retire on Feb. 2, 2007. Bosworth maintains a home in Missoula, and he has indicated previously that he intends to return to Montana when he retires.

Bosworth was the Regional Forester for the Northern Region before he was named chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

Gail Kimbell has been the head of the Northern Region (Region 1) since December, 2003, when she replaced Brad Powell in that post. Prior to her Region 1 post, Kimbell was the forest supervisor of the Pike, San Isabel National Forests and the Comanche National Grasslands, Colorado. Kimbell has also held forest supervisor positions for Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest and Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

In a news release today, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Kimbell, "... brings a wealth of knowledge to her new position. She is well respected both within the agency and by our stakeholders. I'm confident she will do a terrific job as chief."

Kimbell will be the first woman to serve as the Chief in the agency's history.

Already, some are wary of her leadership, including Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who is quoted in John Heilprin's Associated Press report saying Kimbell is "inclined to raise fees, close campgrounds and otherwise make it harder for people to access their lands to raise revenue."

Kimbell helped to develop President Bush's "healthy forests" initiative, which has drawn ire from conservation groups.

There's no word yet on who might replace Kimbell at the Northern Region, which encompasses 25 million acres of public land in Montana, northern Idaho, northeastern Washington and the Dakotas. There may be an appointment in the next few weeks for the interim position but right now it's just "too soon," said Paula Nelson, the region's spokeswoman.

[End of article]

WildWest had zero interaction with Kimbell simply because she ignored requests to try and solve some of the issues that always seem to pop up in lawsuits. For example, back in Sept. 2003 WildWest's attorney wrote a letter to the previous regional forester Brad Powell that outlined "a proposal for your consideration that would bring the Northern Region into compliance with the District Court's legal rulings on old-growth, and thus avoid future and protracted litigation over these issues.... It is my client's sincere hope that you will choose a more constructive path, and address our wildlife concerns at this time, rather than continue to argue over what is minimally required to protect species. I am confident that if you choose to work with us, rather than against us, we can get forest management in this region moving in a positive direction that serves everyone's interests."

Powell was actually very receptive to this strategy, agreeing to every point in the letter in a personal meeting attended by many of his staff, but two weeks later he was out the door because he was apparently caught numerous times using his work computer to view pornography.

After that, Gail Kimbell became regional forester and we were stonewalled by her and the long-standing Regional Counsel. I also witnessed firsthand this summer Kimbell being pulled from the audience by Sen. Larry Craig at the Senate's oversight hearing on the Healthy Forest Restoration Act and sitting before 10 senators and completely lying about the situation surrounding the Myrtle Creek HFRA project in the Idaho Panhandle NF and the involvement of groups such as The Lands Council, which she called "outsiders" despite the fact that The Lands Council was involved in the project and their staff person on the project actually had grandparents that lived in the community and used to run a lumber mill there.

It's also ironic to note that on last night's local TV news coverage of Kimbell's appointment one of the local stations ran the story showing background footage of a beautiful old-growth forest with birds in the old-growth and someone walking through the old-growth. It was actually quite striking to see these beautiful images on the TV. Well, of course nobody would know this, but WIldWest shot that footage and provided it to the TV stations last year. It's actually footage from inside old-growth logging units that are part of the Middle East Fork HFRA project on the Bitterroot...a project that Kimbell approved on her watch even going to far as to reject every single official HFRA objection point brought by not only groups like WIldWest and Friends of the Bitterroot, but also homeowners/landowners who live up the East Fork and PhD scientists at the U. of Montana School of Forestry.

She sounds slightly loony. I'm sure she'll be perfect for the job.

Below is some information regarding Gail Kimbell's retaliation against Forest Service employees on the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming.

More info is available from the US Office of Special Counsel at: http://www.osc.gov/documents/press/2003/pr03_10.htm

SNIP: In 1997 , Abigail Kimbell, the new forest supervisor, ordered a massive reorganization at Bighorn, citing budget constraints. But GAP lawyers alleged [Kimbell's] move was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to purge the whistle-blowers.

Eight Settle Case With Forest Service - Whistle-Blowers to Share $200,000

By Kimberly Edds
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, May 5, 2003; Page A19

Eight former and current workers at Bighorn National Forest will split a $200,000 settlement from the U.S. Forest Service for retaliation they endured after complaining nine years ago about a hostile working environment and questionable forest management practices, but the managers responsible will not be disciplined.

The settlement is a result of a complaint filed by the whistle-blowers with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which protects federal employees from the repercussions of whistle-blowing. The Forest Service would not agree to the settlement if it required disciplinary action against the involved managers, OSC spokeswoman Jane McFarland said last week.

"They did not want to discipline their managers," McFarland said. "We decided it was better to settle for corrective action for our complainants rather than not settle the case."

The Forest Service referred calls for comment about the case to the Office of Special Counsel.

In 1994, several employees wrote a letter to Regional Forester Elizabeth Estill, whose area of responsibility included Bighorn, saying "[w]e no longer feel pride in working for the Bighorn" because management "is not conducive to honesty, integrity and hard work."

The whistleblowers raised the red flag about environmental and fiscal missteps by Bighorn Forest Supervisor Larry Keown and other managers, including allowing ranchers to overgraze their animals on public land, failing to meet reforestation plans and allowing timber harvesting without the required environmental impact studies.

Nearly half the workforce at Bighorn -- 44 employees -- complained about mismanagement over nine years, according to the Government Accountability Project, which is representing the eight complainants.

Thirty of those workers were ultimately forced out because they spoke up, said Tom Devine, legal director of GAP.

GAP attorneys and the Office of Special Counsel refused to release the names of the eight whistle-blowers, citing whistle-blowers' fears of further retaliation.

Keown was reassigned in 1997 as a result of the complaints, but in the aftermath of his departure, one whistle-blower was forced to move to another forest in a different state when her position at Bighorn was eliminated, according to the special counsel's office.

A second whistle-blower relocated after being told his job at Bighorn was in danger; he was later passed over for a promotion.

In 1997 , Abigail Kimbell, the new forest supervisor, ordered a massive reorganization at Bighorn, citing budget constraints. But GAP lawyers alleged the move was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to purge the whistle-blowers.

GAP attorney Joanne Royce said the retaliation included offering people jobs the agency knew they could not take, reassigning employees to jobs they did not know how to do and withholding information about other available jobs, giving them instead to new hires.

Ultimately, only two of the eight whistle-blowers remained on the job at Bighorn National Forest.

Of the managers involved, Keown has since retired. Estill, Kimbell and former deputy regional forester Tom Thompson have all been promoted to Forest Service headquarters in Washington.

Under the terms of the agreement, announced late last month, all relevant disciplinary actions taken against the eight whistle-blowers will be removed.

"The whistle-blowers risked the end of their careers to protect the forest," Devine said.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company