Imagine if your physician could only use old science to treat your illness. "Penicillin? No, no, don't worry, leeches are quite effective". That in effect is what a rule change regarding the management of endangered species would allow. A recently revealed memo by the southwestern regional director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service directed his staff to limit the use of scientific information on genetics when developing recovery plans for species in his jurisdiction.
(NYT) Dale Hall, the director of the southwestern region, in a memorandum dated Jan. 27, said that all decisions about how to return a species to robust viability must use only the genetic science in place at the time it was put on the endangered species list - in some cases the 1970's or earlier - even if there have been scientific advances in understanding the genetic makeup of a species and its subgroups in the ensuing years.
That's right! Let's freeze science and not bother with all that pesky new information.
There's more below the fold.
This rule is aimed at an important principal in the biology and management of endangered species. Many species are subdivided into genetically distinct subpopulations. These isolated subpopulations have undergone evolution and adapted to the local conditions of their population. By making it harder to assign subpopulations to distinct population units it will be easier to allow activities (logging, energy exploration, etc.) that could result in the lose of these distinct populations and harm the recovery of the species.
Hall's decision has generated some dissent within the Agency. There are many dedicated professionals within the agency that still believe science matters.
"Knowing if populations are genetically isolated or where gene flow is restricted can assist us in identifying recovery units that will ensure that a species will persist over time," the regional director [mountain-prairie], Ralph O. Morgenweck, wrote. "It can also ensure that unique adaptations that may be essential for future survival continue to be maintained in the species."
This rule amplifies piecemeal efforts to manage endangered species as a single genetic population. For instance, a recent decision by the FWS lumped the midwestern and northeastern wolf populations into one unit. This decision ran counter to the advice of agency and academic scientists. Had these populations been subdivided, the FWS would have had to draw up recovery plans for the northeast and began recovery efforts in places like Maine and the Adirondacks of New York.
Ignoring new scientific research runs counter to how Congress intended ESA to be implemented.
Mr. Hall's policy, he wrote, "could run counter to the purpose of the Endangered Species Act" and "may contradict our direction to use the best available science in endangered species decisions in some cases."
This change in approach is linked to property rights groups efforts to limit protection of endangered species in favor of economic interests. This approach has its ideological origins in the Pacific Legal Foundation's (a property-rights group in California) contention that endangered species should be managed as a single genetic population. This rule change is another victory for the PLF. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favour of the PLF in an ESA related case (background here).
So, here we have it again. Yet, another example of how this administration limits the use of science in their decision making. This is truly pathetic.
Update: Look here for some other info about recent House Committee attack on ESA.
Another Update: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibilty
(PEER) has issued a press release regarding this rule change.
Hall appears to be causing a lot of trouble in the southwestern region. He's gotta go!
In recent months, FWS has come under increasing criticism for allowing its scientific conclusions to be altered for political reasons. A recent survey of FWS employees by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that more than in any other region, agency biologists in the Southwest have been subjected to political interference, with nearly half of the respondents working under Hall reporting being “directed, for non-scientific reasons to refrain from making” findings protective of wildlife.
Now let's take a look at where endangered species are found.
Source:(USDA)
Here are the FWS Regions.
(FWS)
Bush couldn't have this guy working in a worse spot. Except maybe for Region 1.
Let's send him our regards:
Chief, Division of Endangered Species
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 1306
Albuquerque, NM 87103
Southwest Region — Region Two