WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's upcoming trip to Yosemite National Park occurs amid pomp and peril for the National Park Service.
Even as Yosemite officials ready themselves, and the park service celebrates its centennial, lawmakers and Interior Department investigators are criticizing what a House panel termed "misconduct and unethical behavior," including allegations of serial sexual harassment.
"The agency is in crisis," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Tuesday, adding that "something needs to change, and change fast."
Chaffetz chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
On Tuesday, Chaffetz set the stage for a top Interior Department investigator to describe a series of troubling National Park Service episodes.
The complaints, Deputy Inspector General Mary L. Kendall said, have included sexual harassment at Grand Canyon National Park and Cape Canaveral National Seashore; ethics violations by National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis in writing a book without seeking approval, and misuse of park housing by Yellowstone National Park's former chief ranger.
"The department does not do well in holding accountable those employees who engage in mismanagement and/or misconduct that violates laws, rules, and regulations," Kendall said. "Often, management avoids discipline altogether and attempts to address misconduct by transferring the employee to other duties or to simply counsel the employee."
Kendall cited as an example the former chief ranger at Cape Canaveral National Seashore in Florida, who according to a new Office of Inspector General report engaged in "a pattern and practice" of sexual harassment.
"He sexually harassed (one) employee in 2015 by repeatedly complimenting her on her physical appearance, giving her unwanted and unsolicited tokens of affection, asking her out on dates, and attempting to engage her in conversation about sexually explicit content in movies," investigators said.
The former chief ranger was not named in the report, one of several that have focused on allegations against him. Jarvis said the individual's "commission has been removed" but that he remains a federal employee.
Investigators also identified what they called a "long-term pattern of sexual harassment and hostile work environment" over the course of 15 years at the Grand Canyon National Park. The allegations included groping, sexual propositioning and persistent flirtation during Colorado River trips.
"What happens on the river, stays on the river," one unidentified employee told investigators, summarizing the general attitude.
Jarvis, a career park service employee and former superintendent at Mount Rainier and other national parks, received a reprimand and is undergoing ethics counseling after failing to obtain necessary approvals before writing a book about the park service's centennial.
Chaffetz pressed Jarvis further, charging he "lied" about the book to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. Tellingly, the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, was equally critical of the park service's leader.
Jarvis apologized, several times.
"The vast majority of the National Park Service's 22,000 employees conduct themselves with great integrity and passion for their work," Jarvis said. "This makes it all the more disappointing when we find mistakes and wrongdoing in our ranks."
Jarvis further noted the "record-setting visitation" to national parks that exceeded 300 million last year, and that could rise higher this year as the agency formally marks its centennial on Aug. 25.
One highly visible park visitor, President Barack Obama, is scheduled to drop in on Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and Yosemite this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Obama is scheduled to visit Orlando, Fla., on Thursday to mark last weekend's massacre that occurred after the White House first announced the Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite trips.
Behind-the-scenes planning continues apace for the president's park visits, though the Yosemite details have not yet been made public.
As part of the trip, the Next 100 Coalition, a group of environmental, civil rights and community organizations, called on Obama to issue a presidential memorandum that will "embrace a new vision" for the park service's next 100 years.
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