Interior Assistant Secretary Manipulated Endangered Species Science

Interior Assistant Secretary Manipulated Endangered Species Science

WASHINGTON, DC, (ENS)

29th March 2007

A report released today by the Inspector General of the Department of Interior, IG, found that Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Julie MacDonald, who has no biological training, rode roughshod over numerous decisions by agency scientists concerning protection of endangered species.

The report also found that MacDonald violated federal ethics rules by sending what the IG's office called "nonpublic information" to industry lobbyists with groups such as the Pacific Legal Foundation. This self-proclaimed "national leader" in the effort to reform the Endangered Species Act has successfully mounted a number of legal challenges to critical habitat reviews on behalf of their clients such as the California Farm Bureau, the Washington Farm Bureau, and the Arizona Cattle Growers' Association.

The report was conducted at the request of Congressman Nick Rahall, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. The Inspector General was asked to investigate based on an anonymous report that MacDonald had "bullied, insulted, and harassed the professional staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service to change documents and alter biological reporting regarding the Endangered Species program."

"Through interviewing various sources, including FWS employees and senior officials, and reviewing pertinent documents and e-mails," the IG wrote, "we confirmed that MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field."

MacDonald admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences, such as biology.

Nevertheless, the report found that MacDonald interfered with field reports such as the sage grouse risk analysis, a critical habitat decision for endangered bull trout, a designation of California's northern and southern tiger salamanders as distinct populations, a decision about California's delta smelt, and an analysis of California's vernal pools as critical habitat.

In a number of e-mails and comments on the bull trout critical habitat decision, an agent of the IG's office wrote, "MacDonald forced a reduction in critical habitat miles in the Klamath River basin from 296 to 42 miles."

A former Endangered Species Director, not named in the IG's report, said that overall, "MacDonald did not want to accept petitions to list species as endangered, and she did not want to designate critical habitats."

A former Interior Department assistant secretary, not named by the IG, who was interviewed for the report, said, "she had a fundamental suspicion of FWS employees because of her belief that they were close with the environmental groups."

"When we interviewed Julie MacDonald," the IG's office reported, "she said she is responsible for reviewing, commenting, and at some times editing critical habitat designation reports and five-year endangered species reviews.

"She admitted that she is not always right, as in the case of the vernal pools, but added, 'The figures were a mistake and very embarrassing, but they didn't make a difference in the outcome of the review.'"

"It's a travesty that a high-level political appointee with no training in biology is rewriting the conclusions of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists," said Melissa Waage, legislative director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

"The Bush administration has an unwritten policy to systematically deny protection to imperiled wildlife, dooming them to extinction."