Forest Official Can't Take
Heat; Getting Out Of Kitchen

RENO, Nev. — A Forest Service supervisor who resigned in protest of an ``anti-federal fervor'' in Nevada claims public land managers in the state fear for their safety and conservation advocates are afraid to speak out.

Gloria Flora, in charge of the largest national forest in the Lower 48 states, said Forest Service workers in rural Nevada are shunned in their communities, refused service at restaurants and kicked out of motels just because of who they work for.

She said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press last week that officials at all levels of government in Nevada fuel the sentiments by participating in ``irresponsible fed-bashing.''

She said a congressional hearing scheduled in Nevada this weekend by Reps. Helen Chenoweth-Hage, R-Idaho, and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., about protection of a threatened fish and a controversial road on the national forest amounts to a ``public inquisition.''

``When a member of the United States Congress joins forces with them, using the power of the office to stage a public inquisition of federal employees followed by a political fundraiser, I must protest,'' Flora said.

``I refuse to participate in this charade of normalcy,'' she said in the letter announcing her resignation to members of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

``It's time to speak up. But speaking up and continuing to work here are not compatible. By speaking out, I cannot provide you, my employees, with a safe working environment.''

Gibbons declined to respond directly to the criticism. He said he hearing is designed ``to give Nevadans an opportunity to tell a congressional subcommittee their thoughts on an important issue that affects their lives.

``I have a deep responsibility to ensure that my constituents' concerns are heard,'' Gibbons said.

Flora's resignation marks the boiling point of a heated controversy pitting federal land managers against private property activists in Nevada.

Since she became supervisor in July 1998, she has been embroiled in a controversy over a remote section of northeast Nevada where Elko County wants to rebuild a road on the national forest that the agency claims would harm the officially "threatened" bull trout.

State Assemblyman John Carpenter, one of the leaders of a citizen revolt aimed at reconstructing the road in defiance of Forest Service orders, said he is glad to see her go.

``She doesn't own the forests. I think she felt that she did,'' Carpenter said.

``I think she was in tune with the Clintonites who want to lock up the forests, but she is not in tune with us people in rural Nevada,'' the Republican legislator said.

Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck is reviewing Flora's concerns, said Chris Wood, his senior policy adviser.

``We are going to be talking to people and if there is any sense that our employees' safety is in danger, we are not going to hesitate to respond,'' he said. He declined to say what the response options would be.

Carpenter, a Republican, said he was taking Flora's claims seriously but wasn't convinced they were true.

``We need to find out the truth here,'' Carpenter said. ``We do not accept discrimination. If these things are happening in our town, I want to know.''

Carpenter said he has launched a preliminary investigation on his own.

``And I found very little'' to substantiate her claims, he said.

Carpenter said he ``did hear some people were asked to leave'' a hotel in Elko. He said he talked to the manager of the hotel and she ``did not absolutely remember'' but would be willing to look into it further if she was provided with names and dates.

An incident also may have occurred at a pizza parlor in Elko, but there are too many pizza parlors to track down, Carpenter said.

He said he's also reviewing some instances where federal workers' children may have been harassed at school, but ``in those couple of instances the schools, I think, handled it appropriately.''

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he agreed with Carpenter.

``If these instances occurred we need to find out and put an end to it,'' Gibbons said. ``No one is either above or beneath the law in Elko or any other place in this country.''

Elko County Commissioner Mike Nannini said he didn't believe any of Flora's allegations were true.

``When I hear that I have to laugh. That kind of atmosphere in Elko County is not happening. It's wild statements,'' Nannini said.