Environmentalists seek review of protection for bird

Environmentalists called on the Bush administration Wednesday to scrap a review of the threatened species status of a sea bird that nests in old growth timber, arguing they have documents showing a former Interior official meddled with the science.

Earthjustice, a public interest law firm representing several conservation groups, sent a letter Wednesday to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorn asking he withdraw the five-year status review of the marbled murrelet done in 2004.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service e-mails and notes of meetings obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that Julie MacDonald, then deputy assistant secretary of Interior, had "improperly interfered with the science underlying the marbled murrelet status review," wrote Earthjustice lawyer Kristen Boyles.

MacDonald resigned the post overseeing Fish and Wildlife in May after the department's inspector general rebuked her for pressuring scientists to alter their findings about endangered species and leaking information about them to industry officials.

Last July, Fish and Wildlife Director H. Dale Hall ordered the review of eight endangered species decisions in which MacDonald was involved. He decided against reviews of three other decisions, included the marbled murrelet.

Boyles argued that MacDonald questioned the scientific materials used in the marbled murrelet review, and pressed for consideration of data supplied by the timber industry.

The marbled murrelet remains classified as a threatened species, but the status review recommended dropping protection because birds in Washington, Oregon, and California could no longer be distinguished from birds in Canada since Canada adopted its own law protecting endangered wildlife.

The timber industry has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to take the bird off the threatened species list, and Fish and Wildlife has proposed cutting its critical habitat by more than 90 percent.

Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Joan Jewett said the request may be moot, because the agency is doing a larger review of the bird's status from California to Alaska. She added that the agency had rejected redoing the 2004 review after deciding that MacDonald was only involved in a policy decision, and not a scientific one.

The request to take a new look at the 2004 review comes on top of one sought by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has been holding up the nomination of Lyle Laverty, former director of Colorado State Parks, as assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.