With the peak river-running season coming soon to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, Park Service officials are working to replace the River District office that provided, in part, inspection of commercial and private river trips on the Colorado River through the park.
Grand Canyon Superintendent David Uberuaga, in the wake of a long-running atmosphere of sexual harassment surrounding the office's staff, announced to the park staff earlier this month that he was dismantling the office. The superintendent wrote that he takes "full responsibility for the situation the park finds itself in and I acknowledge and accept that over time, a culture was tolerated that allowed sexual harassment and created a hostile work environment."
The River District was responsible for administration, visitor and resource protection of the river corridor, including monitoring and inspection of commercial and private boating trips, according to Park Service officials in Denver. The staff also provided boat services to park staff for multi-divisional work trips, they added. The six employees in the office were to be reassigned elsewhere in the park.
James Doyle, a spokesman in the Park Service's Intermountain Region official, said Grand Canyon staff were continuing to sort out the details of how the River District office's chores would be reassigned, but added that some duties might be contracted out.
What steps the Park Service might take to see that respectful behavior is maintained among the river staff, no matter who is handling the work, is unknown.
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Superintendent David Uberuaga, How about firing the guys who sexually harassed female employees rather than reassigning them? How about taking away the pensions from the male employees who sexually harassed female employees for years? The women who have been sexually harassed went through hell. Their self-esteem was damaged and their career tarnished. Supervisors did very little to nothing to eradicate sexual harassment on river trips - for fifteen years! That is wrong! What ever happened to those posters hung everywhere in government buildings about sexual harassment being illegal? Quite the farce!
Its natural to assume the harrassment was by men towards women, but the actual truth is women were also the harrassers in this situation. Some employees did lose their jobs, some were reassigned, both MEN and WOMEN. There are male and female victims here, so know the whole story before you criticize.