Investigative Report of Timothy Reid, Chief Ranger, Yellowstone National Park

OIG has completed an investigation into an allegation that Timothy Reid, former Chief Ranger at Yellowstone National Park, rented his National Park Service (NPS) apartment to Yellowstone visitors and potentially violated his required occupancy agreement with NPS. In August 2013, a complainant alleged that that over several months, a “steady stream” of visitors had stayed at an apartment that NPS rented to Reid as his on-park U.S. Government housing. The complainant also alleged that Reid lived with his family at a bed and breakfast he and his wife owned even though Reid was required to live in on-park housing. 

 

We discovered that since 2009, Reid and his wife allowed 19 individuals to stay at Reid’s NPS apartment. Among these visitors was a family from France, who resided at the apartment for 8 days and agreed to allow Reid and his family to stay in one of their homes in France as part of a home exchange program. The other visitors to the apartment were Reid and his wife’s family, friends, or family members of friends. None of these guests compensated Reid and his wife.  

 

We also determined that Reid—despite annually certifying that his on-park Government housing was his primary residence—violated the terms of his required occupancy agreement by living at the bed and breakfast, not the on-park apartment. The then-superintendent and deputy superintendent at Yellowstone both admitted that they knew Reid did not comply with the required occupancy condition of his employment and that they took no action.  

 

We provided this report to the NPS Director for any action he deemed appropriate.