News Advisory

 For Immediate Release

May 1, 2007

Deputy Asst. Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Julie McDonald, resigns, demonstrating politics and science just don’t mix

Political appointee, Julie McDonald, Deputy Asst. Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, resigned on April 30, 2007. McDonald stepped down in the wake of an Inspector General investigation that concluded she had egregiously suppressed science that would protect endangered species. MacDonald’s resignation comes just days before a House congressional oversight committee was slated to hold a public hearing on her violations of the Endangered Species Act, censorship of science, and brutalizing of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff who dared oppose her efforts.

One report was rewritten by MacDonald that likely served to block the listing of Wyoming’s sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Sage grouse scientists were actively ignored and their scientific findings distorted by MacDonald. MacDonald also foiled agency efforts to keep tens of millions of acres from being designated “critical habitat” areas. Her strategy included leaking imperiled species information to industry and collaborating with industry attorneys to remove species from the endangered list.

Duane Short, Wild Species Program Director for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance advises, “biological matters are best understood and dealt with through sound scientific study and analysis. Politics offers no scientific contribution to the process of basic scientific inquiry. Some things just don’t mix and we should not try to mix them.”

Josh Pollack, Conservation Advocate for the Center for Native Ecosystems pointed out, “Julie MacDonald’s resignation, while a necessary first step, must not be the end of the story. Instead, it should be taken as a jumping-off point--an opportunity for the Interior Department and this administration to address the real problem, which is the manipulation of science in decisions about endangered wildlife and plants.

Duane Short, Wild Species Program Director, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, (307) 742-7978
Josh Pollock, Conservation Director, Center for Native Ecosystems, (303) 546-0214