Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell addresses sexual harassment issues on the staff of Grand Canyon National Park, July 26, 2016.By Laurel Morales, Fronteras Desk
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Tuesday pledged to move Grand Canyon National Park and its staff past what she called a culture of sexual harassment.
Jewell met with park employees and later with the news media to discuss findings of a report by the Office of Inspector General released in January, showing the park’s river district employees demanded sex from female coworkers and punished those who refused.
Jewell called the 15 years of often ignored harassment reports “horrific” and a “failure in leadership.” Following release of the report, the Park Service hired a new Grand Canyon superintendent, Christine Lehnertz, the first woman in the job.
In addition, Jewell said, officials consulted with other federal agencies to find out what they did about the issue.
“We’re trying to understand why it occurs and what needs to be done,” Jewell said. “Some of those things we have learned is consistency in taking action, making sure that there’s a safe place for people to go that is not in the chain of command, that we keep good data.”
National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis told reporters a survey will go out to Park Service employees this fall to assess the prevalence of the problem.
“We are not looking at this as just a Grand Canyon isolated incident but something that could very well be a part of the entire National Park Service as well,” Jarvis said.
The agency also will set up a hotline for employees worried about talking to their supervisors.
Regional director Sue Masica said the culture of harassment did not occur overnight.
“It was over many number of years and it’s going to take us many number of years to fix it,” she said.
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