FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Western Wildlife May Get Redress of Tainted Endangered Species Decisions

Fish and Wildlife Service reported to be considering reversals for 10 species, including Preble's

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might reverse or modify its decisions to deny Endangered Species Act protections to several Western species, according to an anonymous government official speaking to the Associated Press on Thursday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might reverse or modify its decisions to deny Endangered Species Act protections to several Western species, according to an anonymous government official speaking to the Associated Press on Thursday.

The Associated Press reports that as many as ten recent decisions affecting endangered species management, including an attempt to remove the threatened Preble’s meadow jumping mouse from the Endangered Species list, are under review by Fish and Wildlife Service director Dale Hall because of tampering by former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald.  MacDonald resigned in May after an Interior Department investigation found she violated federal regulations, bullied agency scientists, and forced reversals of many decisions to protect endangered species.

“Dale Hall may be seeing the light at last,” said Josh Pollock, Conservation Director at Center for Native Ecosystems.  “The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to make these decisions right this time.  So many species are continuing to slide toward extinction because of Julie MacDonald’s tampering.”

Species in the southern Rocky Mountains that were denied protection due to Julie MacDonald’s interference include the greater sage grouse, Gunnison sage grouse, white-tailed prairie dog, Gunnison’s prairie dog, southwestern willow flycatcher, and the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.  Other species around the West that were affected include the Arctic grayling, southwestern bald eagle, Sacramento splittail, bull trout, delta smelt, northern spotted owl, and Mexican garter snake.

U.S Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chris Tollefson told the Associated Press, “We’re reviewing a number of decisions that Julie MacDonald was involved with and determining how best to proceed.”  Tollefson did not confirm that the Service planned to reverse earlier decisions or the names of any of the species currently under reconsideration.  “There are a lot of things under consideration,” Tollefson said.

“Endangered species decisions should be based on science, not politics,” said Pollock.  “This could be the Service’s first step in their long road back to that ethical standard.  Next, the entire Interior Department needs to fix the culture among its political appointees that allowed Julie MacDonald to do what she did to so many species and so many scientists on her staff.”

The Department of the Interior has been rocked by numerous ethical problems in recent months, including the conviction and sentencing of former Assistant Secretary Steven Griles for obstructing the investigation into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.  Interior’s Inspector General is continuing to investigate Julie MacDonald’s activities, and Congress is holding a series of hearings into tampering with endangered species management.  The next hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee, scheduled for July 31^st, will focus on Vice President Dick Cheney’s role in reversing protections for endangered fish on the Klamath River in Oregon and California.

“It makes so much more sense for the Interior Department to voluntarily go back and fix what they know was done wrong than to waste years and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on citizen lawsuits,” said Pollock.

###