Julie MacDonald is a political appointee at the U.S. Department of Interior. Her job duties, as best we can figure, overriding the recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at every possible opportunity, at least when the Service recommends doing something that might benefit an endangered plant or wildlife species. They also seem to include concocting rationales for denying or removing protection from our most endangered plants and wildlife. Despite overwhelming scientific consensus that the Gunnison sage grouse is suffering severe declines and is quickly sliding toward extinction, and despite indications that even the Fish and Wildlife Service itself recommended publishing a formal proposal to protect the grouse under the Endangered Species Act, the Service yesterday not only decided not to protect the grouse but removed it from the "candidate" list, thus eliminating even the nominal protection it had with that designation.

If you are interested in learning more, you can read any one of a bunch of news stories, including stories in the Denver Post, Grand Junction Sentinel, Washington Post (which printed the Associated Press story, which you'll find in dozens of other news outlets), and the Gunnison Country Times.