in December of 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act with overwhelming, bipartisan support.............. Republican President Richard Nixon promptly signed this landmark wildlife conservation bill into law................. .In those years, deicisions about endangered species listings were founded in science and fact, which is where they should be decided......................Will Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, adhere to the science based revelations that have come forward about whether to delist the Gray Wolf across the USA?...................Will the bipartisan spirit regarding wildlife preservation and environmental issues ever return to the Halls of Congress and the Presidency?

http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/opinion/report/031214
_wolf_udall_op/udall-gray-wolf-delisting-not-sound-science/

Udall: Gray

wolf delisting

 not sound

 science

o

Posted Mar 12, 2014, 2:46 pm

Lori UdallSpecial to TucsonSentinel.com

Forty-six years ago, my father Stewart Udall
 — as Secretary of
 Interior — issued the first endangered species
 list under the
 Endangered Species Preservation Act. His list
included such
 great American icons as the timber wolf, red
 wolf, bald eagle,
grizzly bear, American alligator, and the
 peregrine falcon.

Also listed as endangered in 1967 was the
 gray wolf.

Six years later, in December of 1973, Congress
passed the
 Endangered Species Act with overwhelming,
 bipartisan support.
 President Richard Nixon promptly signed
 this landmark wildlife
 conservation bill into law. In those years,
 decisions about
endangered species listings were founded
 in science and fact,
which is where they should be decided.

2013 marked the fortieth anniversary of the
 Endangered Species
 Act. As the years have passed, evidence is
 overwhelming that the
law is highly effective and has saved hundreds
 of species from
extinction. The bald eagle has been restored t
o most of its original
habitat; the peregrine falcon has soared back
to recovery and both
 were taken off the list. The grizzly bear, listed
 in 1975 as threatened
 is recovering well in some areas in the west.
The American alligator
 was delisted due to recovery in 1999.

However, the gray wolf is an example of a
species that is coming
back but has not yet made it back, and yet
now is caught in political
 limbo.

In 2011, Sen. John Tester of Montana
(D-Mon) and Rep. Mike
Simpson (R-Idaho), under pressure from
constituents, introduced
 a rider to a spending bill that delisted
 the gray wolf in Montana
and Idaho, while the agency charged
with protecting the wolf
under the Endangered Species Act —
Department of Interior
 — turned a blind eye.

President Nixon signing Endangered
 Species Act(1973(

This was the first time in the history of the
Endangered Species
Act that a single species was delisted through
 legislation instead o
f through the scientific study around the species
 recovery.

That a single species can be delisted through
legislation in Congress
instead of scientific study of its recovery sets
a dangerous precedent
for the future of all protected species. Already
, other members o
f Congress are following suit and have introduced
amendments to
 defund recovery for the Utah prairie dog, the
 greater and
Gunnison sage grouse, preventing a listing of
prairie chickens, as
 well as other amendments to weaken the
Endangered Species Act.

To add insult to injury, under Secretary
 Sally Jewell's direction,
 the Department of Interior is now proposing
 to delist the gray
wolf in the lower 48 states (except the Mexican
 wolf). Americans
 have until March 27 to submit their comments.
 The proposed
 rule has been challenged by an independent
 scientific peer
review study released on Feb. 7 and done at the
 request of U.S
. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The peer
review scientists
 convened by the National Center for Ecological
Analysis and
Synthesis disagree with the proposed rule
 regarding the
 status of the wolf under the Endangered Species
 Act.

There is unanimity among the panelists that
the proposed rule
 does not represent the best available science
and that the rule
 is based narrowly on one study that has
problematic assertions
and conclusions and was not analyzed critically
. Moreover, the
 scientists suggest that the Fish and Wildlife
Service was wrong
to base its ruling on FWS scientists rather
than a broader
selection of scientific viewpoints.

Given the positive impact that wolves have
 on whole
ecosystems, Jewell is faced with perhaps
one of the most
 important conservation decisions of her tenure.

It is her turn to make the big decisions for
wildlife and wild lands.

My father used to say if you developed a policy
 the wrong way
 you would have a big fight on your hands.
Well, The
 Department of Interior certainly has picked
 a fight! Over a
million Americans, and counting, have
commented on the
wolf delisting and the majority are against
 it; now top
scientists concur. It's time for Secretary
Jewell to follow
 the science, rethink her strategy and finish
 the work
 my father and his successors started.

Lori Udall is a program director for
 the Sacharuna Foundation,
 which focuses on land and wildlife 
conservation and
 indigenous rights. Her father, Stewar
t Udall, was secretary
 of the Interior for Presidents
 Kennedy and Johnson.

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