Group alleges political meddling in wolf program

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press

Friday, June 8, 2012

• FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 file photo, a female Mexican gray wolf looks to avoid being captured for its annual vaccinations and medical checkup at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. A watchdog group has filed a complaint alleging that key scientific findings on what is required to return the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest have been altered due to political pressure. The wolf restoration effort has been hampered over the past 14 years by illegal shootings, courtroom battles and complaints by environmentalists and ranchers about the way the program is managed. The complaint filed Thursday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsbility has sparked a call from one Arizona congressman for the Interior Department to conduct a "full and fair investigation." There are at least 58 wolves in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico. Photo: AP / AP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The effort to return the Mexican gray wolf to the American Southwest has been fraught with legal disputes, illegal shootings, livestock deaths and emotion. Now a watchdog group is questioning the integrity of key scientific findings related to the endangered animal's recovery.

Public Employees of Environmental Responsibility filed a complaint this week with the U.S. Department of Interior, alleging that political meddling has threatened to lower the number of wolves required for recovery.

The group also contends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suspended recovery planning in May in response to political pressure that followed the release of confidential documents to politicians and advocacy groups and concerns voiced by officials in Utah and Colorado about expanding the wolf recovery area to their states.

Jeff Ruch, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based group, called the science behind Mexican gray wolf recovery a "political football."

"The time for political negotiation comes after the scientific work is done," Ruch said. "In this instance, Obama officials are attempting to improperly pre-negotiate the science to accommodate political partners."

Regional Fish and Wildlife Service officials declined to comment and referred all questions to the Interior Department.

Interior spokesman Adam Fetcher said Friday the department will review the allegations per the standard procedures outlined by its scientific integrity policy. He declined to comment further.
The accusations do not help President Barack Obama, who has taken steps to paint himself as a pro-science president after his predecessor was accused of having put politics over evidence.
In 2008, the Interior Department's inspector general found that Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary who oversaw the Fish and Wildlife Service for the Bush administration, improperly interfered with at least 20 decisions on endangered species. A report by the inspector general said the integrity of the Endangered Species Act was harmed as a result and hundreds of thousands of federal dollars were wasted.

In the case of the Mexican gray wolf, critics have lambasted the Fish and Wildlife Service for spending more than $12 million on the predator over the past decade and having little to show in return.

Surveys done at the beginning of the year put the wolf population in New Mexico and Arizona at about 58. Biologists had expected more than double that by now.

Through rallies and letters to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, environmentalists have unsuccessfully pushed for the release of more captive-bred wolves to bolster a population that's scattered across millions of forested acres in the two states. Their argument: More wolves would alleviate problems with inbreeding and help offset illegal killings.

Environmentalists and even some scientists who work with the program have often blamed politics for the lack of releases.

"Certainly the frustration has been building," Ruch said.

According to the complaint filed Thursday by Public Employees of Environmental Responsibility, the Fish and Wildlife Service and its state partners have developed draft policies, informal agreements and other documents to "limit the input of the best available science regarding wolf recovery in future actions."

Aside from the number of wolves needed for recovery, the complaint points to threats against scientific findings that address suitable habitat and the number of separate wolf populations that would make recovery successful.

The complaint has sparked a call from U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., for a "full and fair investigation."

"Attempts to change scientific findings because of political preferences should not be part of the process," the congressman said in a letter sent Thursday to Salazar and Fish and Wildlife Service officials.

Ruch said he hopes the complaint leads to an investigation.

"We think there's something to gain from putting it on the record," he said. "We believe that given the trend here, it's going to go back to litigation so this material will be available to those who will be challenging the Service again."

The group Public Employees of Environmental Responsibility wants the Interior Department to enforce its integrity policy, take disciplinary action against employees who violate the policy and establish disclosure rules for communications between stakeholders and regional wildlife directors when it comes to recovery plans for threatened and endangered species.

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