New look at species

Politics influenced seven rulings, says wildlife agency

By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Political pressure in Washington, D.C., tainted decisions regarding protection of seven threatened species, including Colorado's Preble's meadow jumping mouse, the white-tailed prairie dog and the habitat of the Canada lynx, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined.

Each of the species will receive new reviews to determine whether they should have more or less protection.

"It means we have a lot of work in front of us," said Tom Blickensderfer, endangered species program director for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

Rulings on the species came under scrutiny last spring after a U.S. Interior Department inspector general concluded that agency scientists were pressured to alter their findings by Julie MacDonald, then a deputy assistant secretary overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service.

MacDonald resigned her position last May after she was rebuked by the Interior Department for her actions.

She was instrumental in early decisions not to protect the Preble's meadow jumping mouse and the white-tailed prairie dog, among others.

In a letter sent to U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, Kenneth Stansell, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said his agency would review several actions:

* The decision not to list the white-tailed prairie dog as endangered. The agency says it will possibly reconsider this decision in late 2009 or early 2010.

* The decision not to complete studies on new habitat protection for the Canada lynx. The agency will complete a new rule on habitat by August.

* The decision to begin delisting the Preble's meadow jumping mouse.

The agency is slated to make a decision in June on a proposed rule that protects the mouse in Colorado but not in Wyoming.

"I think they will have to withdraw all of those decisions and reconsider them," Blickensderfer said. "I don't know yet if they will absolutely reverse them or if they will reconsider them after they've gathered public comment."