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OIG Opens Investigation Into Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent

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Published Date

October 22, 2018
Grand Canyon Superintendent Christine Lehnertz/NPS

Grand Canyon Superintendent Christine Lehnertz has been temporarily reassigned while being investigated for allegations made against her at the park/NPS

Editor's note: This corrects that the email was sent by the National Park Service, not OIG.

Christine Lehnertz, who was appointed Grand Canyon National Park superintendent in July 2016 to help the park overcome a long-running episode of sexual harassment, has been temporarily reassigned while under investigation by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General for undisclosed allegations.

National Park Service officials notified all Grand Canyon employees of that move Friday in an email.

"The National Park Service always appreciates the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General for conducting thorough and impartial reviews of allegations like this, and I encourage you all to speak to the OIG investigators on the ground, if you have information that you wish to share with them," the email read. "In order to protect the integrity of the OIG’s investigation into these allegations, the Grand Canyon superintendent will move temporarily into a position outside of the park while the investigation is conducted. For now, Grand Canyon deputy superintendents will continue to serve as acting superintendent in accordance with their normal rotation.

"Once the Office of Inspector General completes its investigation, the National Park Service will determine appropriate next steps, based on the outcome of the OIG’s work. We will ensure that all park staff receive regular information associated with this process," it added.

Then-Park Service Director Jon Jarvis selected Lehnertz to succeed Dave Uberuaga, who retired rather than accept an assignment in Washington, D.C., after Grand Canyon was rocked by a long-running escapade of sexual harassment in the park's River District.

In January 2016, a report released by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General said that for roughly 15 years life deep in the Inner Gorge of the Grand Canyon at times reflected rowdy, sexually charged scenes from a frat party for some park employees, with male employees pawing and propositioning female workers, some of who at times exhibited their own risqué behavior.

The investigation generated a tawdry list of inappropriate behavior, from male employees taking photographs up under a female co-worker's dress and groping female workers to women dancing provocatively and bringing a drinking straw "shaped like a penis and testicles" to river parties. The incidents, a September 2014 letter to then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell charged, "demonstrated evidence of 'discrimination, retaliation, and a sexually hostile work environment.'”

Lehnertz had been superintendent of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California before moving to Grand Canyon. Educated as an environmental biologist, she worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before a 16-year stint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She joined the National Park Service in 2007 as deputy superintendent at Yellowstone National Park.

After a stint as the Park Service's Pacific West Region director from 2010-2015, she took over at Golden Gate in May 2015.

The email directed all questions regarding the matter to be directed to the Park Service's Intermountain Regional Office. Park Service officials there had no additional information to release.

While Lehnertz was brought in to help end harassment at Grand Canyon, another episode was reported in 2017, according to an OIG investigation into a park manager alleged to have harassed an intern.

The incident, reported late this past January, ran for several months in 2017, according to the OIG report. The manager, who was not identified by name or position, resigned from the National Park Service in October of that year, about a month after he was interviewed by the OIG's staff.

The manager's resignation came just three days before Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released a survey that showed that nearly 40 percent of the National Park Service workforce has been the victim of sexual harassment, intimidation, or discrimination.

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Comments

Although promises have been made, the corruption within the ranks of management continues to permit the harassment and discrimination to occur. I know as I was removed form my 16+ year Federal career for reporting unsafe and unhealthy working condintions multiple times, and that resulted in 2 citations for serious violations from OSHA. Not to mention I had to file EEO complaints for harassment and discrimination and now have permanent lung damage from my long term exposure to toxic conditions in the buioldings I worked in at NPS. Nothing is being done other than they continue to get away with their discriminatory ways.


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