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Forest Service employees warned against sharing the chief’s travel plans after he visited Juneau
Federal agency states the direction is a standard safety and security practice not tied to local protest
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
Last month, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council planned a protest outside of a U.S. Forest Service meeting scheduled at the Alaska State Museum during a visit by Tom Schultz, the federal agency’s chief.
The protest was canceled hours before the employees-only meeting due to a notice it was being relocated to the Juneau U.S. Forest Service Ranger Station.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Alaska State Museum is unable to host the event,” an internal employee email provided to the Juneau Independent and SEACC on Sept. 22 read.
“We’re the unforeseen circumstance,” Nathan Newcomer, SEACC Tongass campaigner, told the Independent after reading the email.
Forest Service employees received an email last week instructing them not to share information about the chief’s future visits.
“With the ongoing threats to the Chief, it is imperative that we control the dissemination of information regarding the Chief’s schedule and meeting plans,” the email from the chief’s office dated Oct. 7 reads. “Recent incidents have raised safety concerns over employees sharing these plans outside of the Forest Service with individuals or organizations who wish to protest or create incidents.”
Clint Farr, the museum operations manager for Juneau, said he asked the Forest Service to change the location of last month’s meeting due to the protest. He said it was his decision after the agency gave him a heads-up that one was planned.
“This isn’t anything to do with the subject matter,” he said in an interview Friday.
Farr said he requested the relocation because the museum is open to the public and he didn’t know how many protesters there would be.
“That didn’t seem like something we wanted to deal with because we don’t have security or staff for that sort of thing,” he said, adding it was a choice made out of an abundance of caution.
“I asked them to see if they could move it. It wasn’t even like a directive. I just said if you could, that would be great and they were able to move it,” Farr said.
“I’m sure it’s controversial, but we’re not really a place where protests happen a lot, so it made me uncomfortable to think that there’d be tourists and families mixing with angry people, and one security guard and me trying to figure out what to do,” he said.
Farr said he took staff ability to handle the event into account with the limited information he had.
“We’re not really trained or equipped for that — if there was going to be a big turnout, and who knows if it was going to be peaceful or friendly or not,” he said.
He said if the agency was unable to move the event, the museum would have gone forward hosting it.
“It’s not anything against the issue or whatnot,” Farr said, adding he is in support of people’s right to assemble.
The email to Forest Service employees last week states that in order to limit unauthorized disclosure of “sensitive information,” staff should include a confidentiality notice to any employee messages regarding the chief’s travel or meeting plans.
“In some circumstances, the unauthorized release of information can lead to criminal charges or disciplinary action,” the email from the forest chief’s office states.
In response to inquiries from the Independent, a Forest Service spokesperson said the guidance provided to employees is a standard safety and security practice used across federal agencies whenever executive leaders travel.
“We do not discuss specific threats or security assessments, but we can confirm that this approach is precautionary and not tied to any single trip or location,” an email on Thursday from the Forest Service National Press Desk states. “It reflects the Forest Service’s responsibility to ensure the safety of all employees and leadership during official travel.”
“This direction is intended to reduce the risk of unauthorized disclosure of sensitive logistical information and it reiterates long-standing federal requirements that protect sensitive, non‑public information. Any consequences for unauthorized disclosure would depend on the nature and severity of the breach and are determined through established federal personnel and legal processes.”
Newcomer said the SEACC protest aimed to critique the agency’s public engagement approach in its proposal to repeal the Roadless Rule. The public comment period ended Oct. 6 after 45 days with four public hearings in Alaska. Nearly all of the 370,000 comments submitted online opposed the rollback of the national rule, according to analysis by the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation advocacy group.
Even though the location changed hours in advance and the protest was canceled as a result, about 10 people showed up outside the ranger district office in the Mendenhall Valley and several at the museum downtown on the afternoon of Sept. 22.
Forest Service employee union members also planned the protest in response to the mass firing of federal workers in 2025. The Tongass National Forest lost about 30% of its staff between January 2025 and August 2026, according to a staffing and reorganization update in an agency general report.
Anjuli Grantham said she protested to show support for federal workers and “in defense of the Tongass.”
“I think about all of those who were devastated by DOGE last year, and I think about all my friends who are federal workers, and they are living under extreme stress and pressure, and it’s unacceptable. They’re in really awful working environments these days,” she said in an interview Thursday.
A federal court on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to stop implementing a reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture after a union-led lawsuit. The halt is temporary and could be short-lived, according to Politico.
“Secondly, the policies that are coming out with the Forest Service are reprehensible,” Grantham said. “Thankfully it looks like the reorganization that was planned has been halted because a judge said that it cannot proceed…Then also the current attempt to again roll back the Roadless Rule in a way which is way too fast, and they’re again ignoring usual public processes for these things.”
A final decision on the Roadless Rule is expected by the end of the year.
Grantham said she was not surprised at the agency’s instruction to employees regarding the chief’s travel.
“I think that this is reprehensible, but also to be expected. We know that this administration is operating in the least transparent way possible,” she said. “We know that they are doing whatever they can to limit opportunities for due process to take place, for public to be involved in decision-making; they’re limiting our opportunities left and right to have any say in policy.”
Grantham said someone in public service should be accountable to the public.
Eric Antrim, recording secretary for the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 251, told the Independent his boss stated someone “leaked” the chief’s travel plans to Juneau back in September. Antrim said sharing was not prohibited until last week’s staff meeting and he believed the change to be a response to Juneau’s protest.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or 907-723-9356.
