2 species get 2nd shot at protection

Following the worst scandal in the recent history of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency is reconsidering whether to list two animal species that live in Utah as threatened or endangered.

They are the white-tailed prairie dog and the greater sage-grouse, both also found in other states.

The action comes after the Interior Department Office of Inspector General, and a federal judge said an Interior Department official had indulged in political meddling to prevent the listing of new species.

In January 2005, the FWS ruled against protecting the greater sage-grouse.

But a March 23, 2007, report by the Interior Department inspector general found that Julie MacDonald, assistant department secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, was "heavily involved with editing, commenting on and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field."

The inspector found that she was not involved in illegal activity but that she disclosed nonpublic information to private organizations, such as the California Farm Bureau and the Pacific Legal Foundation.

MacDonald, who has since resigned, intervened in the agency's determination concerning the greater sage-grouse, according to the report. The grouse is found in 11 Western states, but their numbers have dropped drastically since settlement of the region.

According to the report, one issue was whether state attempts to protect the species are adequate. Several FWS regional offices — including that of Region 6, based in Denver, which includes Utah — had reviewed state plans and determined that state conservation efforts did not meet standards.

"The Portland assistant regional solicitor (in the Interior Department) said once MacDonald was informed, she claimed that FWS came up with the wrong conclusions and instructed them to go back and do the review again," says the report. "He termed this behavior by MacDonald as 'the most brazen case of political meddling' he had seen."

The Fish and Wildlife Service determined in 2005 that protecting the greater sage-grouse as threatened or endangered was "not warranted."

In a memorandum dated June 21, 2007, J. Mitch King, then-director of the FWS Region 6, wrote that MacDonald had been involved in the ultimate determination on the greater sage-grouse but that she did not affect the outcome.