Showdown could loom as park service holds on to a critical Yosemite management report | McClatchy Washington Bureau

The National Park Service is declining to provide lawmakers with a critical report on Yosemite National Park management problems, raising the possibility of a subpoena showdown.

Directed by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hand over the Yosemite report by Oct. 11, park service officials have instead opted to hold on to the document while allowing committee staffers to read it in private.

“The report contains summary information of allegations that have not been investigated or verified; as such, it provides insufficient information to be relied upon other than as a management tool to determine follow-up action,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis advised the committee.

Jarvis, in the previously undisclosed Oct. 12 memo, added that the “report’s value as a management tool is largely based on the candor of the interviewed employees, who provided information based on the explicit understanding that it would be anonymous.”

Keeping the actual report out of congressional hands, in theory, could also be a way to curtail the potential for a leak.

Dubbed an “expedited inquiry,” the report was initiated last August following complaints that a hostile work environment has been fostered under then-Superintendent Don Neubacher. The oversight committee’s chair, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, cited to the report in a September hearing where he disclosed that “at least” 18 different Yosemite employees complained about working conditions at the park.

Neubacher apologized to workers and subsequently retired, while the initial inquiry has led to an ongoing investigation by the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General.

“The NPS is committed to accommodating the committee’s oversight interest in this matter, but the NPS is also committed to protecting the interviewed employees and ensuring the integrity of the ongoing OIG investigation,” Jarvis told the oversight panel.

A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment Friday, but in their initial Oct. 5 request for the report, lawmakers threatened they might “consider the use of compulsory process” if documents weren’t provided.

Democrats have joined Republicans in pressing for the park service report, unlike some other committee investigations that have prompted subpoenas.

While declining to turn over the Yosemite report, the park service did deliver other information sought by the committee, including data on sexual harassment complaints by park service workers.

Separately, the park service has posted for public review and comment a “Resource Stewardship for the 21st Century” proposal that includes management precepts such as to “hold legal and ethical behavior to be a critical component of resource management.”