The head of Yosemite National Park is retiring following employee complaints that he created a hostile workplace by allowing bullying, harassment and other misconduct, allegations also raised in other popular national parks, officials said Thursday.
Superintendent Don Neubacher announced his plans Wednesday, said Andrew Munoz, a spokesman for the National Park Service. It comes less than a week after a congressional oversight committee unveiled that at least 18 Yosemite staffers complained of a toxic work environment.
The employees described “horrific working conditions (that) lead us to believe that the environment is indeed toxic, hostile, repressive and harassing,” the park service said in a preliminary report last month.
The congressional hearing also showed wider allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and other misconduct among employees at national parks including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
Neubacher, who headed Yosemite for nearly seven years, was not immediately available for comment, but his emailed statement to park staffers was provided to The Associated Press.