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Survey of Fish & Wildlife Service Employees is Revealing
A recently released survey shows that political appointees, acting at the behest of commercial interests, are undermining endangered species protection and sound science at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), the division of the Department of the Interior with lead responsibility for federal wildlife conservation.
"These survey findings are truly disturbing," says John Kostyack, NWF senior counsel. "The fate of endangered or threatened plants and animals in this country depends upon Interior Department officials upholding the Endangered Species Act and letting the scientists do their job. That does not appear to be happening."
Many of the more than 400 FWS scientists who responded to the survey, conducted jointly by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, reported that timber, grazing, development and energy companies have been using political pressure to force FWS biologists to advance company agendas. More than 200 of those surveyed said they had been ordered to exclude or alter scientific findings, and more than 400 said they could not openly express "concerns about the biological needs of species and habitats without fear of retaliation" within the agency.
"We are not allowed to be honest and forthright, we are expected to rubber stamp everything," wrote one FWS biologist. "I have 20 years of federal service in this [agency], and this is the worst it has ever been."
Other scientists surveyed agreed, commenting on the climate of fear within the agency. "It's one thing for the Department [of the Interior] to dismiss our recommendations, it's quite another to be forced [under veiled threat of removal] to say something that is counter to our best professional judgment," a biologist in Alaska reported.
"Forcing agency scientists to alter data and conclusions-in effect to lie-is a disservice not only to Fish and Wildlife Service professionals but also to the American people, who rely on the honesty of their government," Kostyack says. "Neither the government nor the public can make sound decisions based on misrepresentation and deceit."
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