After six months as the agency’s interim leader, Vicki Christiansen will take the oath of office today as chief of the U.S. Forest Service, one of the USDA’s largest agencies. Christiansen was a senior official at the USFS when she was selected by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue as interim chief in March following the resignation of Tony Tooke amid allegations of sexual harassment.
“With seven years at the Forest Service and 30 years with the states of Arizona and Washington, Vicki’s professional experience makes me confident that she will thrive in this role and hit the ground running,” said Perdue, who hinted last week that Christiansen would become the chief. She was deputy chief for state and private forestry, a post with a broad portfolio, before being promoted to interim chief. “Vicki has been a wildland fire fighter and fire manager for 36 years,” said a USDA biography. “She started as a wildland fire fighter while still in college.”
Tooke was one of Perdue’s first and most prominent appointees after becoming agriculture secretary in April 2017. When Perdue elevated Christiansen in March, he said the Forest Service was making “progress with new processes to combat sexual harassment and protect victims from retaliation.” The Forest Service updated its sexual harassment policy last July to require the investigation of all reports of sexual harassment or misconduct.
With 32,000 workers, the Forest Service employs one-third of the USDA workforce and is responsible for 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands in 44 states and Puerto Rico.