TS Radio: Blowing the whistle on US Forestry Service

Hosted by Marti Oakley

The following guests are brought to you in conjunction with Marcel Reid, and the annual Whistleblower Summit for Civil and Human Rights held every July 30th in Washington DC. 

Guest: Michael McCray As a civil rights lawyer and federal whistleblower, Michael became known as the “$40,000,000 Whistleblower” when he reported over $40 million in government waste, fraud and abuse at the United States Department of Agriculture.

Guest: Elisa Lopez-Crowder   A US Forestry Service worker since 2010.  Currently working in Tahoe National Forest, Region 5, California, as a Recreation Technician and previosuly as a Wildland Firefighter on the Region 5, El Dorado National Forest on the Georgetown Ranger District. I was very excited to work on an engine. I was the only female. The male assistant captain arrived two months after I was hired and started making negative comments about women working in the fire organization, about my skin color, and about women in the military. The comments were continual. I didn’t report him because I was a new employee and I was the only female on the crew.

One day in the field the assistant captain physically attacked me.  Suddenly, he grabbed me from behind by my line gear and threw me to the ground, put his foot on my back and held me down. He would not let me up until another firefighter told him to.

I didn't report the assault for fear of retaliation, until shortly after I discovered we would be on a two-week fire assignment with the assistant captain as our leader and the captain would not be with us. I feared for my safety and reported him. Forest Service management covered up the incident.