Catherwood LibraryILR School

Nine years after they blew the whistle on environmental and financial malfeasance at Bighorn National Forest, eight members of the U.S. Forest Service will finally have their disciplinary records cleared and receive a combined $200,000 for lost compensation. Denied promotions, forced to relocate, and prevented from applying for other job openings, the workers' stories are familiar ones at Bighorn National Forest where thirty of forty-four workers who spoke out over nine years were forced out of the service. The managers who engaged in the retaliation---many of whom have since been promoted---are unlikely to ever face justice, as the Forest Service refused to settle the suit until the U.S. Office of Special Counsel dropped requirements that the managers be disciplined.