The white-tailed prairie dog and the greater sage grouse once again are under review for endangered-species protection, as a federal agency continues to clean up after a Bush administration appointee who flagrantly meddled with scientific findings. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week settled a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups backing the review of the white-tailed prairie dog. Also on Tuesday, the agency announced an additional review of the greater sage grouse to determine if it warrants Endangered Species Act protection. The species were among several that Julie MacDonald, former Interior Department Deputy Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, removed from consideration for greater protection. In March, the Interior Inspector General confirmed that MacDonald edited, commented on and reshaped scientific reports to interfere with Fish and Wildlife science. MacDonald also was found to have violated federal regulations regarding e-mail and other communications with various mining and energy industry lobbyists and individuals who opposed ESA protections. MacDonald, an engineer with no training or experience in wildlife biology, retired in May just eight days before she was to appear before a congressional oversight committee examining Bush administration officials political interference in scientific decision- making. The settlement, signed in Denver, means Fish and Wildlife will begin a formal status review of the white-tailed prairie dog by May 1 and make a decision on its endangered status by June 1, 2010. The settlement is the result of a lawsuit the Center for Native Ecosystems, WildEarth Guardians, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and Terry Tempest Williams filed in November to force the federal agency to take action after MacDonald's exposure. "We got the documents and they admitted what had happened but they made no commitment about fixing the problem that Julie MacDonald had made," said Erin Robertson, senior staff biologist for the Denver-based Center for Native Ecosystems. Fish and Wildlife didn't issue an announcement, and the Denver regional headquarters has yet to get official notification, said spokeswoman Sharon Rose. The white-tailed prairie dog is an indicator of healthy wildlife populations in the sagebrush sea of the West, the conservation groups said in an announcement of the settlement. Other imperiled species, including endangered black-footed ferrets, burrowing owls, mountain plovers, and ferruginous hawks depend on prairie dogs for food and shelter. The white-tailed prairie dog populations have been nearly obliterated in western Colorado, eastern Utah, Wyoming, and south-central Montana due to energy development, disease, shooting and poisoning. E-mail Patty Henetz at phenetz(at)sltrib.com(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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