[Vision2020] Maybe she will become Ed Iverson's assistant at No Saints Around.

[Saundra Lund]

This really is outrageous!

I'm really ignorant about this . . . can anyone tell me how she got her
position???  Yes, I know I could probably Google it, but if anyone can save
me the time, it would be greatly appreciated.  I *really* want to know who
is responsible for this IDIOT getting her job  :-(((


A Very Disgusted
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
- Edmund Burke

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
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-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Andreas Schou
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 9:51 AM
To: Art Deco
Cc: Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Maybe she will become Ed Iverson's assistant at No
Saints Around.

Wayne --

My favorite part of this story? The fact that she altered reports on
fish populations in the Intermountain West based on recommendations
from someone she met on World of Warcraft.

-- ACS

On 5/2/07, Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:
>
> Maybe she will become Ed Iverson's assistant at No Saints Around.
>
>
>
>
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-macdonald2may02,0,27425
17.story?track=ntothtml
> Interior Department official resigns
> Julie A. MacDonald is accused of overruling agency scientists about
> endangered species and leaking documents.By Julie Cart
> Times Staff Writer
>
> May 2, 2007
>
> An Interior Department official who was recently rebuked for altering
> scientific conclusions to reduce protections for endangered species and
> providing internal documents to lobbyists resigned Monday, officials said.
>
> Julie A. MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary who oversaw the Fish and
> Wildlife Service's endangered species program, also faced
> conflict-of-interest questions in a report issued by the Interior
> Department's inspector general in March.
>
> An Interior Department spokesman confirmed MacDonald's resignation Tuesday
> but declined to comment. MacDonald could not be reached.
>
> MacDonald's departure came a week before a scheduled congressional
oversight
> hearing to investigate whether Bush administration officials have ignored
> scientific findings in their decisions on endangered species.
>
> In 2004, MacDonald was criticized for overruling field biologists on the
> habitat requirements of the greater sage grouse, disputing their
conclusion
> that oil and gas operations could interfere with the birds' breeding and
> nesting.
>
> The inspector general's report outlined instances where MacDonald, a civil
> engineer with no formal training in natural sciences, advocated altering
> scientific conclusions in ways that favored development and agricultural
> interests.
>
> H. Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, told
investigators
> that MacDonald overrode field experts on designating habitat for the
> endangered southwestern willow flycatcher.
>
> Scientists concluded that the birds had a "nesting range" of 2.1 miles,
but
> MacDonald ordered the number reduced to 1.8 miles without providing any
> scientific basis for the change.
>
> Hall, a wildlife biologist, told investigators he was in a "running
battle"
> with MacDonald over the issue. Hall said MacDonald had a particular
interest
> in endangered species rulings that affected California because her husband
> had a ranch in the state.
>
> California property records show that MacDonald and her husband, Charles,
> own 80 acres identified as crop land in Yolo County near Sacramento.
>
> The inspector general's report also said that MacDonald had pressured
staff
> members to combine three different populations of the California tiger
> salamander into one, which in effect excluded it from the endangered
species
> list.
>
> A federal judge overturned the change in 2005, saying the decision was
made
> "without even a semblance of agency reasoning."
>
> The report also said MacDonald had ordered department scientists to
reverse
> their conclusions on the habitat for bull trout in the Klamath River
Basin.
> She insisted on a 90% reduction in habitat. The final ruling reduced the
> habitat from 296 miles to 42 miles, an 86% reduction.
>
> Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife
and
> former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, called MacDonald's
> activities outlined in the report appalling.
>
> "It's pretty incredible how deeply and directionally she reached, ordering
> changes with no scientific grounding," Clark said. "It was as if
compliance
> with the law was secondary at best, and irrelevant at worst."
>
> The report said MacDonald improperly provided department information to
> lobbyists and private-sector interests, such as the California Farm Bureau
> and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California.
>
> "MacDonald appears to have a close personal and business relationship with
a
> farm bureau lobbyist," the report said.
>
> In once instance, the report said, MacDonald sent information about a
> contentious endangered species issue to a friend she had met in an online
> role-playing game. She told investigators she took part in the Internet
> games to relieve stress created by her job.
>
> MacDonald often overruled government biologists and recommended cutting
> habitat for threatened species, saying the economic costs outweighed any
> potential benefits to the species. But she told The Times in 2005 that
> because of a miscalculation, she had wildly overstated potential costs in
at
> least one case.
>
> In many instances, MacDonald's changes caused scientists to request that
> their names be removed from documents. The inspector general calculated
that
> in the last six years, 75% of the endangered species reports from the Fish
> and Wildlife Service's Western offices did not have standard signoffs by
> scientific staff members.
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