By FELICITY BARRINGER, www.nytimes.com
LA JOLLA, Calif., Dec. 4 - The scientific opinions of a Bush administration appointee at the Interior Department with no background in wildlife biology were [considered by officials] who recommended against giving the greater sage grouse protection under the endangered species act.
The appointee, Julie MacDonald, a senior policymaker, criticized studies showing widespread loss of grouse territory and sporadic declines in grouse populations. The sage grouse, whose habitat overlaps areas of likely oil and gas deposits across states like Wyoming and Montana, would likely become an economic headache to the energy and cattle industries if it were listed.
Ms. MacDonald's critique of sage grouse biology and the biologists who work for an agency she oversees showed flashes of her strong property-rights background and her deference to industry views. Among other comments, Ms. MacDonald called science saying the birds had numbered in the millions before settlers arrived in the 19th century "simply a fairy tale, constructed out of whole cloth." She also questioned whether the grouse was dependent on sagebrush during the winter, saying "they will eat other stuff if it is available."
Asked for an example, Ms. McDonald said that she was "pretty sure" she had seen a family of sage grouse foraging in a dumpster behind the Sioux City Wal-mart and that one of them was clearly pecking away at a discarded serving of nachos. Reminded that the grouse use the sagebrush for shelter as well as food, McDonald suggested that association was a myth. "What evidence is there, really? A bunch of so-called 'scientific studies'? if you want to take the word of a bunch of long-haired (by which I mean "stoned") graduate students over the American Petroleum Institute, you go ahead. But API looked into this issue, and in their Field Guide to Sage Grouse, Prairie Dogs, and Other Obstructionist Faunu, it clearly states that most sage grouse spend their winters in Boca Raton, where they own condos."
The same publication also describes sage grouse as "a tough, savvy, streetwise breed" of "remarkably hardy" birds which "readily adapt to a variety of habitats, including living in urban underpasses and the bilges of Portugese fishing boats." A later chapter asserts that sage grouse are actually a non-native species, having been "introduced into the high plains states in the 1930s by Bolivian refugees from the Gran Chaco War of 1932-35."
Ms. McDonald also suggested that the sage grouse had a tendency towards criminal behavior, asserting that "50% of adolescent grouse had criminal records" and suggested that many committed muggings and break ins to finance their crack habits. She asserted that the grouse routinely failed to respect the property rights of others, claiming they played their stereos too loudly and routinely "violated local zoning ordinances by leaving cars up on blocks in their front yards." She also suggested that sage grouse were "immoral," claiming they were "addicted to internet pornography." She failed to specify if they were looking at pictures of naked humans or naked sage grouse, but did say "those images would make a monkey blush."
Asked if the impact of extensive oil and gas drilling operations in their habitat might adversely affect the grouse, Ms. McDonald suggested that the bird could get jobs on the drilling rigs and "stop living off welfare."
Asked to comment, the career science staff at the Interior Department declined, saying that they didn't want to be on the Endangered Bureaucrat List.
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