Watchdog group says Yellowstone park ranger illegally muzzled
By The Associated Press
10.12.01
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Yellowstone National Park ranger who criticized unscrupulous hunters has been ordered not to speak to reporters, and a government watchdog group wants an investigation.
Park officials said the order was to remind seasonal ranger Bob Jackson that he's not an official park spokesman.
But Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that defends government employees who speak out on environmental issues, called the order "offensive and blatantly illegal."
"The implications are that you're doing something wrong by having a gag order. But I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong," said Jackson, 54.
Jackson criticized hunting guides who he says illegally lure elk from the park by placing salt licks just outside Yellowstone's boundaries. Elk hunting is illegal in the park, but permitted in the national forests next to Yellowstone. The use of salt to bait game is illegal, however.
Jackson was told this fall to return home to Promise City, Iowa, in Wayne County weeks ahead of schedule. After 23 years as a backcountry ranger, he worries he won't have a job next summer.
Yellowstone's order, issued in August, prohibits Jackson from expressing "opinions regarding Yellowstone National Park, the National Park Service or about anything he does in his official capacity with the National Park Service."
Jeff Ruch, PEER executive director, says the order violates Jackson's constitutional rights and a federal law against using federal money to impose broad gag or nondisclosure orders on civil servants.
PEER filed a formal request this week with the National Park Service's director to determine who was behind the order.
Park spokeswoman Marsha Karle said it was a personnel issue and there was little else she could say.