For endangered species, politics replace science

[StarryNite]

For endangered species, politics replace science
A leaked Fish and Wildlife memo suggests a shift away from science.

In December 2017, E&E News released a leaked U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service memo that revised how the agency assembles scientific data about rare species. Previously, species status assessment teams, composed of scientists who were experts in related fields, gathered the best available data about an organism. The Fish and Wildlife Service would use that information to make decisions about whether to list the species. Per the memo, teams must now include state-appointed members. The new policy went into effect on Nov. 1.

Gavin Shire, chief of public affairs at the Fish and Wildlife Service, describes the change positively. “Prior to the memo, we often included state experts in the (assessment team) development, but in a less formal way,” Shire said by email. “We expect the composition of the teams will be largely the same. The memo simply formalizes the expectation and provides some assurance to state wildlife agencies that (the Fish and Wildlife Service) will be involving them.”

But to conservation organizations, the assessment team memo is just one example of how the Interior department — emboldened by an anti-conservation, anti-regulatory administration in control of both Congress and the White House — has found new strategies to replace science with politics, weakening the laws protecting the country’s biodiversity. According to the leaked memo, assessment teams must now include at least two representatives from each state in which the species is found, including one appointed by the state governor.

[link:http://www.hcn.org/articles/endangered-species-politics-replace-science-at-the-us-fish-and-wildlife-service|