|
|
|
 |
|
Home / Presidents Perspective - 2001 / The Fur Should Fly Over Lynx Hoax |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The Fur Should Fly Over Lynx Hoax |
|
|
|
Written On: December 27, 2001 |
|
|
|
We need an immediate – and independent – investigation into whether seven state and federal biologists planted false evidence during an Endangered Species Act (ESA) survey in two Washington forests.
The biologists from the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State Department of Fish and Wildlife submitted fur from domestic lynx during a survey to determine if the threatened cats live in the Gifford Pinchot and Wenatchee National Forests in Washington.
When confronted, the scientists claimed they were just trying to test the accuracy of the laboratory’s DNA analysis. Oh, come on – our teenagers had more creative excuses for missing Saturday night curfew!
The Canadian lynx is protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. If lynx had been found in those forests, state and federal officials would have moved to close off large portions of the land to recreational users and timber harvesters. Forest Service officials, who have known about this incident for more than a year, say the unnamed employees have been “counseled” and prohibited from working on the lynx survey.
This “hand slapping” is not enough. If the biologists are found to have intentionally tried to skew the ESA survey results, they should be fired.
The Department of Agriculture has announced it will now launch an investigation. I have a better idea. There should be an independent probe of the allegations, as well as the agencies’ delay in making the incident public.
The bigger question is: “Was this an isolated incident?” Retired Fish and Wildlife Service biologist James M. Beers doesn’t think so. “I’m convinced that there is a lot of that going on for so-called higher purposes," Mr. Beers said.
ESA restrictions have decimated Washington’s fishing and forestry communities, destroyed thousands of jobs and drained hundreds of millions of dollars from our state’s economy. The possibility that some of those restrictions may have been based on faked “science” is chilling.
We must know the facts.
An independent investigation by Congress or the National Science Foundation should begin immediately to determine if this and other ESA surveys were tainted by fake evidence. The very credibility of the Endangered Species Act is at stake.
If those entrusted to fulfill the obligations of the law are skewing it, then the ESA itself is weakened and endangered.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
