Although many may consider it an unlikely source for investigative journalism of this type, High Country Times recently published a series of articles describing threats to public land employees in the western United States.
The series begins with “Defuse the West” by Ray Ring and Marshall Swearingen. The article gives an overview of the scope of threats to the safety of public land management agency employees in the west from 2010-2014.
In “Roots of the Rebellion“, reporter Tay Wiles discusses threats, primarily to federal employees, with a former director of the Bureau of Land Management, a Utah county commissioner, a professor from Boise State University, and the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
“Reports from the front lines” by Ray Ring and Marshall Swearingen, contains excerpts from official reports of shots being fired at Forest Service officers, confrontations in federal offices, firebombing of Bureau of Land Management campground hosts, and many other incidents where citizens threatened and/or carried out attacks against natural resource agency employees.
Many of these incidents have been mapped by Brian Calvert and Marshall Swearingen.
Difficulties these reporters faced in obtaining public records regarding attacks and threats against employees of the Bureau of Land Management are detailed by Ray Ring in, “The BLM Fails to Provide Public Records“.
For tips on what you can do to protect yourself against threats or attacks see our previous post about precautions you can take while working in dangerous areas.
You can report threats or attacks against you to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility as part of their Violence Against Employees campaign