Head of U.S. Forest Service steps down amid sexual misconduct allegations
BILLINGS, Mont. -- U.S. Forest Service chief Tony Tooke has stepped down just days after an investigation was launched into sexual misconduct allegations against him and amid reports of rampant misbehavior including rape within the agency's ranks.
A Forest Service spokesman on Thursday confirmed Tooke's sudden retirement less than seven months after he was named to the post by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue.
His departure was first reported by the Missoulian. It comes less than a week after PBS NewsHour reported Tooke was under investigation following relationships with subordinates before he became chief.
In a Wednesday night email to Forest Service employees, Tooke said he had cooperated with the investigation. He did not directly deny the allegations against him but said he "cannot combat every inaccuracy that is reported."
"In some of these news reports you may have seen references to my own behavior in the past," Tooke wrote. "This naturally raised questions about my record and prompted an investigation, which I requested and fully support and with which I have cooperated."
Forest Service spokesman Byron James declined to say if the investigation into Tooke would continue and a replacement was not immediately announced.
PBS and other outlets, including The Associated Press, have previously reported a culture of harassment and retaliation at the Forest Service dating back years. Many of the problems mirror misconduct within the nation's other major public lands agency, the Interior Department.
Congress held hearings on the problems at both agencies in 2016 and senior officials have repeatedly vowed to address the problem.
The Forest Service has about 35,000 employees and manages more than 300,000 square miles (777,000 square kilometers) of forests and grasslands in 43 states and Puerto Rico. Tooke, a native of Alabama, was a career agency employee who worked in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.