One Sunday every month, always after church, the Breathitt County Hiking Club meets outside the public library in Jackson, Kentucky聽to caravan to a trailhead. On an afternoon in early June, Stephen Bowling, the library鈥檚 executive director, eagerly waited inside the glass doors for the group to arrive for their trip to Copperas Creek Trail in Red River Gorge, about 40 minutes away.

As people trickled in, Bowling happily fielded questions about the hike. 鈥淗ow long is it again?鈥� asked Phyllis Light, a 74-year-old wearing clean white Skechers. Her friend Doris Newton, an outspoken middle-aged woman who works at the local hardware store, hopped out of the car with her dog. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the difficulty level?鈥� Newton asked as her husband took a drag of his cigarette and laughed about how he wore swim shoes instead of hiking boots.

Bowling, a 45-year-old father with a toothy grin, has been hosting these monthly field trips since the beginning of the year. An avid backpacker, he has hiked hundreds of miles on the Appalachian Trail and elsewhere in the Southeast, an experience he鈥檚 determined to share with others. Bowling鈥檚 new hiking club, sponsored by the Breathitt聽County Public Library, is his latest effort to get people in this rural town out into nature. The trips usually attract around 20 people. 鈥淎 little bit here, a little bit there. We鈥檒l get them moving,鈥� he says. Most of Bowling鈥檚 patrons lack any experience in the outdoors and don鈥檛 fancy themselves hikers, bikers, or fitness enthusiasts. But Bowling doesn鈥檛 judge; he鈥檚 just happy they鈥檝e showed up.

That鈥檚 because rural Appalachia is the unhealthiest place in the country by almost any metric: lowest life expectancy and education levels; highest rates of poverty, unemployment, and physical inactivity; and severe lack of access to health care and health food, according to the annual . Bowling believes he can begin to improve this situation by introducing his peers to the outdoors, so he started his monthly hikes to put a small dent in the growing public health crisis and alleviate the sense of fatalism in his community. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a depressed area economically, but also emotionally and physiologically,鈥� Bowling says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e told constantly that we鈥檙e the least-healthy people, we are this, we are that, and people don鈥檛 feel empowered to change that. Some people aren鈥檛 willing, and some people aren鈥檛 able.鈥�

After a short drive on that spring day, the 14-person group arrived at a trailhead deep in the Daniel Boone National Forest. The overgrown brush was still damp from rain earlier that week, leaving the 90-degree Kentucky air muggy. All together, they excitedly started up the trail, asking about poison ivy, pointing out tree species they鈥檇 discussed at a recent local event, and staring in awe at the forest. 鈥淲ow, this is just amazing,鈥� said 47-year-old Julie Stamper as she put her cigarette out and stuffed the butt into her backpack. 鈥淚鈥檝e never been to a place like this before.鈥�

Isolated geographically and culturally by the rolling Appalachian Mountains, Appalachia is a prime example of the rural-urban wellness divide. The region has dealt with climbing poverty rates for decades. Today, 25 percent of people in Eastern Kentucky and 20 percent of those in Appalachian Virginia live below the poverty line, according to the . Out of the top ten counties in the United States with the largest declines in life expectancy, . One is the former coal-mining county of Breathitt, which has a population of nearly 14,000 people鈥�98 percent white, most over 40 years old. Nearly half the population is obese, about a third smoke, and a third are physically inactive. The unemployment rate is almost 12 percent.

Many people, like Bowling, believe more access to public lands and increased opportunities for physical activity can help address some of these problems. Although outdoor recreation isn't a聽cure-all聽for poverty, it鈥檚聽part of the story, says Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. concluded that public lands could be used as one element in a comprehensive strategy to address public health issues in rural areas. Other communities in the Southeast are responding to such findings by increasing local engagement efforts to get people outside, says Jerry Spegman, a community coach for County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. 鈥淓ven if a town doesn鈥檛 land on a hiking club as its solution, there are widespread efforts in other states in the region […] to get better at working with people on the ground at this,鈥� he says.

Ironically, rural communities tend to be cut off from public land, leaving them with the fewest choices for outdoor activity and exercise. 鈥淢ost people consider rural areas safer or closer to public lands, outdoor recreation, and parks,鈥� says Mark Holmes, director of the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, 鈥渂ut in reality, they can be very isolating.鈥� Most Southeastern states have less than 5 percent federal public land. In Kentucky, less than 4 percent of land is federally owned, and there are only a few state parks, most of them a half-day鈥檚 drive from Breathitt. Only of Breathitt聽county residents live ; meanwhile, of New York county residents and of San Francisco county residents have such access to a park within a half-mile or a recreational facility within just one mile.

This means that the majority of possible outdoor adventure spaces are under private control, typically owned by coal mining companies or landowning conglomerates rather than purveyors of public trail systems.聽In the rare instances where a private owner does choose to create trails, locals say that they鈥檙e often designed for ATVs and not easily accessible to hikers or mountain bikers. In many rural Southern communities like Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, there are few safe, well-marked walking or biking trails. If there is a local gym, it鈥檚 usually small and has limited hours. Instead, 鈥渕any people rely on the local high school to keep its running track unlocked and open to the public,鈥� Holmes says.

Given the staggering wellness outcomes emerging from this part of the country, the rural-urban health divide has risen to the forefront of national conversation. All eyes are on how eastern Kentucky and Appalachia are working to address these issues, says Dee Davis, founder of the in Whitesburg, Kentucky. 鈥淎ll of a sudden, they鈥檙e beginning to look more at health and disease to find different sets of linkages,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 imagine that in five years, we鈥檒l have a much better picture than what we have now.鈥� How these types of local programs fare and how public lands prove to help the situation could inform the conversations of policymakers moving forward.

Bowling鈥檚 no longer just the leader of a local group; he鈥檚 also becoming a figurehead for a small but fervent public health movement. He answers questions about hiking every time he鈥檚 out in the community, whether he鈥檚 shopping at Walmart or at church on Sunday mornings. 鈥淧eople didn鈥檛 know how to be active or get on our trails聽because they鈥檙e ignorant to what鈥檚 healthy or uninterested in finding out,鈥� says Breathitt resident Masja Ott. But with Bowling as a familiar friend and resource, excitement about the hikes鈥攁nd about health in general鈥攊s growing around town.

鈥淚 admire how much Steve is trying to help people get healthier. It鈥檚 so good if people are willing to take advantage of it,鈥� Light says. Those who have attended only one hike, like Julie Stamper, are keen to grow the movement. 鈥淚 was so tired when I got home that day, but I鈥檝e already told my entire family that we鈥檙e going to go on more hikes,鈥� she says.聽Last month, ten new people saw the hiking photos on the and visited Red River Gorge on their own. 鈥淲e get more traction out of [word of mouth] than all of the papers and pamphlets you could hand out in a year,鈥� Bowling says.

The community health needle may be moving slowly, but it鈥檚 not at a standstill. Rural Southern regions are looking to places like North Carolina and Colorado鈥攚hich have effectively tapped into their outdoor recreation economy鈥攖o figure out ways to make public lands profitable and accessible. In July, legislation will go into effect to create the , a group run by community members from around the state that will develop, maintain, monitor, and promote local trails. State Representative , who introduced the bill, says his聽goal is to connect 17 counties through a trail system. 鈥淪ome of the most beautiful places are hidden away,鈥� Fugate says. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done a good enough job of promoting and taking care of ourselves here.鈥�

In the meantime, Bowling will continue to herd a small group of strangers from around the county and lead them on his favorite hidden hikes. 鈥淭he great success of this program is opening people up to a world they didn鈥檛 know was there,鈥� he says. His isn鈥檛 the one-and-done solution to all the public health woes facing Breathitt, Bowling says. 鈥淏ut if we solve one problem at a time, or help someone get in shape one person at a time, we鈥檝e completed our goal.鈥�

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After falling under scrutiny about the way it has handled long-term sexual harassment at the Grand Canyon, the National Park Service is expanding its probe to see if the case represents a broader cultural crisis within the park system. 鈥淚 hope that what occurred at the Grand Canyon is an anomaly, but I don鈥檛 know that,鈥� Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service told High Country News in an interview at his office in Washington, D.C. 鈥淲e have to find out if there are similar situations in other parts of the park system.鈥�

At the of members of Congress, Jarvis plans to conduct a survey of the entire agency, though no details about the survey have been provided. Jarvis also to his staff of more than 20,000 on March 15, requesting that employees with sexual harassment complaints reach out to supervisors. If they fail to get adequate responses, he urges them to appeal to other supervisors or their local equal opportunity contacts.

In January, the Interior Department鈥檚 Office of Inspector General released a about sexual harassment by boatmen at the Grand Canyon鈥檚 river district for almost two decades. In February, the Park Service released a written statement that it had 鈥渮ero tolerance鈥� for sexual harassment. Since then, Grand Canyon superintendent Dave Uberuaga abolished the , and intermountain regional director Sue Masica has been working on a to address sexual harassment through training and more active responses to complaints in the future.

The shocking found women were repeatedly propositioned for sex, harassed by male boatmen and supervisors and retaliated against after reporting incidents to management. The OIG report also stated that Park Service managers and the regional director were aware of these issues and failed to take action for years.

Some members of Congress accuse the Park Service of moving too slowly and failing to adequately punish the accused harassers and their managers. dated March 23, 2016, members of Congress pressed Jarvis to broaden the investigation and conduct an agency-wide survey. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., says he and some colleagues other came up with the survey idea because they were impatient with the Park Service鈥檚 response.

鈥淚t鈥檚 scary that they didn鈥檛 take the initiative to do this on their own,鈥� Gallego told HCN in an interview. 鈥淲hen you start hearing about sexual harassment, they tend not to be isolated incidents. A culture of sexual harassment and cover up tends to happen. This is why we want to do a survey, to draw out more information. A whack-a-mole policy to take care of the issue as it pops up is not a good system.鈥�

Gallego adds that it鈥檚 鈥渞idiculous鈥� that no one has been fired following the January report. 聽鈥淧rocess should not be the excuse for inaction. How do female employees feel when someone found to be a sexual harasser is still employed? What message does this send?鈥�

One of the perpetrators mentioned in the OIG investigation who has been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and retaliation is still employed at the Grand Canyon.

Jarvis defends his agency鈥檚 response, stressing that federal employees have more protections than private employees. If the Park Service fails to follow proper procedures, it risks having employees reinstated. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not done,鈥� Jarvis adds. 鈥淚 want to make sure we get this right.鈥� Jarvis also suggested that may be among those disciplined. The OIG investigation shows that although Uberuaga received a report from an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation in 2013, he sat on it for months. According to the OIG report, 鈥渘o disciplinary or administrative action was taken against employees who were identified in the report as having violated DOI and NPS regulations.鈥�

鈥�(Uberuaga) made some mistakes on this issue. There鈥檚 no question about that. That also will be dealt with appropriately,鈥� says Jarvis, a longtime friend of Uberuaga鈥檚. 鈥淚鈥檓 not protecting him.鈥� However, Jarvis declined to comment on which mistakes warranted repercussions.

Debbie Dougherty is a professor of organizational communication at the University of Missouri and has spent years researching sexual harassment in organizational cultures like federal agencies. To get it right, she says, requires deep assessment of the culture and a willingness to hold harassers accountable. 鈥淭hey need to stop being so fearful of firing people, whether they’ve been there for a long time or not,鈥� she says. 鈥淶ero tolerance isn鈥檛 something we just say, it’s something we engage in.鈥�

When the OIG report was released in January, HCN put up a so that federal public lands employees could share their experiences with sexual harassment. More than a dozen responses tell us that the Grand Canyon case is not an isolated incident. Macho cultures in land management seem to have contributed to sexual harassment problems in a variety of these agencies. The failure to fire anyone has left many Park Service employees with low morale and little trust in the system. 鈥淚 have experienced sexual harassment in the NPS first-hand, but the lack of response on the part of Grand Canyon managers and the retaliation I received for reporting it was almost more disturbing to me,鈥� says Rachel Brady, a former river ranger at the Grand Canyon and one of the 13 complainants who prompted the OIG investigation.

For now, Jarvis鈥� focus is on the survey. He plans to solicit advice from the Pentagon, which regularly surveys the military about sexual harassment and assault. 鈥淲hen we conduct such a survey it has to be something that protects the privacy of an individual so that they feel that they can let us know; but gives me enough so that I can actually do something about it,鈥� Jarvis says.

Elizabeth, a current Park Service employee who has worked at seven parks and experienced sexual harassment herself, is skeptical the agency will do anything beyond a survey. 鈥淥ther than the Washington folks getting some ideas of how bad the problem is, it doesn鈥檛 mean they’re going to do much to implement change,鈥� she says. (Elizabeth asked that her last name not be used because she worries about retaliation for speaking critically.)

[If you are a federal public land employee and would like to report your own experience with sexual harassment, please fill out our .]

According to Dougherty, understanding the complexities of sexual harassment and the institutionalized culture of a bureaucratic agency is not as simple as handing out a survey. Until recently, how the military handled sexual assault was a prime example of that. It took several scandals, in-depth interviews, and many surveys before the Department of Defense implemented strategic programs like hotlines, counseling, and persistent training to address the issue.

An effective survey doesn鈥檛 just ask people if they’ve ever been a victim or perpetrator of sexual harassment, Dougherty says. It would include questions about the culture of an organization to try to learn why sexual harassment is tolerated. Research shows focus groups with employees can help craft good surveys, for example, by learning the language men use to refer to women. 鈥淵ou have to identify the issues within the culture before you can make a survey,鈥� Dougherty says.

Experts suggest the Park Service may not get a full picture of its sexual harassment problem until it comes down harder on perpetrators so that employees can trust that harassers, and not victims, will suffer consequences. 鈥淲e need to learn how to better track who [perpetrators] are and eliminate them from the culture 鈥� that sends a message 鈥� but to do that, you have to believe women enough where they aren’t afraid to come forward and report,鈥� Dougherty says.

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