Fish and Wildlife Service

Following are PEER news releases, white papers, surveys and other activities for Fish and Wildlife Service:
News Releases
October 6, 2009  ARIZONA COUGAR SHOOTING PLAN MISGUIDED — Need For and Effects of Wiping Out Desert-Adapted Cougars Not Understood
September 17, 2009  BID TO SAVE VANISHING FLORIDA PANTHER HABITAT — Legal Petition Filed With Feds to Protect 3 Million Acres from Development
September 15, 2009  BIGHORNS SHUN DESERT WATER TANKS — Controversial Artificial Impoundments Failing Their Purpose
September 10, 2009  AMARGOSA TOAD LEAPS TOWARD ENDANGERED SPECIES STATUS — Fish & Wildlife Service Announces Review Leading to Endangered Species Listing
September 3, 2009  U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SCIENTISTS GAIN RIGHT TO PUBLISH — Elimination of “Policy Review” for Technical Articles to Reduce Political Interference
August 31, 2009  FEDS OKAY TOURISTS SWIMMING WITH MANATEES — Fish & Wildlife Service Rejects PEER Petition to End “Swim-With” Permits
August 19, 2009  GUNNISON SAGE-GROUSE GETS ANOTHER CHANCE AT PROTECTION — Most Populations Declined Again in 2009
July 22, 2009  MANATEES’ FRAGILE FATE MIRRORS NATIONAL WILDLIFE PERIL — Senate Confirmation Hearing Today for Fish & Wildlife Service Director
July 15, 2009  MOVE TO END HARASSMENT OF FLORIDA MANATEES — Legal Filing to Outlaw Manatee “Swim-With” Dives by 100,000 Tourists Annually
July 9, 2009  FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE IN FLORIDA: PORTRAIT OF A FAILED AGENCY — Obama Pick Piecemeals Florida Panther and Other Endangered Species to Extinction
June 25, 2009  ONE-THIRD OF WILDLIFE REFUGES USE GM CROPS IN SOUTHEAST — Genetically Modified Seeds Okayed by Obama Fish & Wildlife Service Director Pick Hamilton
June 22, 2009  ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT FELL INTO DISUSE UNDER NOMINEE — Only One Jeopardy Opinion in Nearly 6,000 Consultations as Staff Told to Refrain
June 15, 2009  POLITICAL MANIPULATION OF SCIENCE RIFE DURING NOMINEE’S TENURE — Fish & Wildlife Service Southeast Region Employees Saw Interference and Reprisal
July 3, 2008  FEDERAL CASH BRINGS REWARD FOR INFORMATION ON ILLEGAL WOLF KILLINGS TO $50,000 —

June 23, 2008  FEDERAL WILDLIFE REPORT CENSORED — Highly Redacted Inspector General Report Posted on Official Website
May 20, 2008  FIGHT TO RE-CLASSIFY PYGMY OWL AS ENDANGERED — Conservationists Take First Step to Re-establish Protections for the Pygmy Owl
March 18, 2008  FEDERAL WILDLIFE SCIENTISTS CAUGHT IN ETHICS TUG-OF-WAR — Conflicting Orders Make Politically Sensitive Scientific Work a Career Minefield
February 26, 2008  LEGAL PETITION TO SAVE NEVADA’S AMARGOSA TOAD — Off-Road Traffic and Habitat Destruction May Doom Toad without Intervention
January 22, 2008  LAWSUIT TO FORCE FLORIDA MANATEE OVERSIGHT RECORD RELEASE — Boating Speed Limits, Warning Signs and Swim-With Harassment at Issue
May 3, 2007  BUSH ADMINISTRATION FAILS TO PROTECT RARE SAND MOUNTAIN BLUE BUTTERFLY —

April 9, 2007  MANATEE PROTECTIONS TO BE CUT UNDER BUSH PLAN — Down-Listing Comes Despite Record Number of Manatee Fatalities in 2006
February 20, 2007  FEDERAL WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT IS LEADERLESS AND IN DECLINE — New Inspector General Decries “Rudderless” Program as Prosecutions Drop
December 20, 2006  AGENCY RESISTANCE THREATENS TO WIPE OUT DESERT FISH — State Push for Nonnative Game Fish Undercuts Federal Recovery Plans
December 13, 2006  GROUPS CONTEST DENIAL OF FEDERAL PROTECTION TO DECLINING PRAIRIE DOG — Illegal Political Interference Cited in Lawsuit
November 1, 2006  NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM PUT ON STARVATION DIET — Scores of Vacant Refuges to Be Left With No Staff on “Preservation Status”
August 18, 2006  BUSH ADMINISTRATION DENIES PROTECTION TO 16 DESERT SPECIES — Off-Road Pressure Leads to Reversal of Science on Unique Sonoran Wildlife
August 14, 2006  DESERT PRESERVATION LAWSUIT FILED — Agency Staff, Rural Residents and Conservation Groups Challenge Off-Road Vehicle Abuse
June 5, 2006  SAN MIGUEL COUNTY JOINS COALITION SEEKING GUNNISON SAGE-GROUSE PROTECTION —

April 5, 2006  SUIT TO STOP ILLEGAL AGRICULTURE ON PRIME HOOK WILDLIFE REFUGE — Top Bush Official Overrode Delaware Refuge Ecological Objections to GE Crops
February 1, 2006  INTERIOR OFFICIAL RESPONSIBLE FOR SCIENTIFIC FRAUD PROMOTED — Agency Admitted Bad Science on Florida Panther and Reinstated Whistleblower
November 7, 2005  WILDLIFE REFUGE USED FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS — Farmers Given Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge Land
September 15, 2005  GREEN GROUPS OPPOSE BUSH PICK FOR FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE — Illegal Orders, Altering Scientific Findings and Developer-Friendly Pattern Cited
July 20, 2005  “DISINFORMATION SYNDROME” AFFLICTS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — Officials Routinely Rewarded for Lying and Punished for Telling the Truth
June 29, 2005  JOINT STATEMENT OF ANDREW ELLER AND THE U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE —

May 24, 2005  BIOLOGISTS ORDERED TO IGNORE GENETICS OF ENDANGERED SPECIES — New Fish & Wildlife Service Edict Sparks Internal Protests Over Censoring Science
April 28, 2005  STRONG WARNINGS ON SW FLORIDA DEVELOPMENT IGNORED — Fish &Wildlife Service Objections to Lee and Collier County Projects Muzzled
March 30, 2005  FLORIDA FWS BIOLOGISTS ORDERED TO APPROVE ALL DEVELOPMENT — Panther Called a “Zoo Species”— Protecting Wild Habitat Futile
March 21, 2005  AGENCY ADMITS PANTHER WHISTLEBLOWER WAS RIGHT — Fish & Wildlife Service Persists in Trying to Fire Vindicated Scientist
February 22, 2005  U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE MAY OUTSOURCE BIOLOGICAL STAFF — Director Appeals to Interior to Stop the Contractor Bidding for Hundreds of Jobs
February 10, 2005  FISH & WILDLIFE SCIENCE POLLUTED BY FLORIDA POLITICS — Survey Validates Concerns Raised by Panther Whistleblower
February 9, 2005  POLITICS TRUMPS SCIENCE AT U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE — Survey Reveals Inappropriate Orders to Alter Scientific Findings, Decisions
February 7, 2005  SCIENTISTS ORDERED NOT TO COMPLETE SURVEY — Banned Survey Results to be Released Wednesday
November 8, 2004  FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE FIRES PANTHER WHISTLEBLOWER — Agency Does Not Dispute Orders to Suppress Scientific Findings
October 11, 2004  OUTSPOKEN PANTHER SCIENTIST APPEARS WITH NOBEL PRIZEWINNER — Joint Appearance to Speak Out Against Political Pressure on Government Scientists
October 5, 2004  MORE GILA FISH NEED FEDERAL PROTECTION — Ignoring Unlisted Fish Is Recipe for Further Decline
August 24, 2004  FEDERAL COURT VINDICATES PANTHER WHISTLEBLOWER — U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Lacks Scientific Basis for
August 4, 2004  COURT FINES BUSH ADMINISTRATION DESERT SPECIES PERMITS ILLEGAL — Landmark decision finds U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service used illegal definition
July 29, 2004  PANTHER SCIENTISTS PRESSURED TO APPROVE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS — Scientific Fraud Charges Go to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Director
July 20, 2004  U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE MOVES TO FIRE SCIENTIST WHO REPORTED FRAUD — Agency Acknowledges Flaws in Florida Panther Studies Affecting Major Developments
May 5, 2004  U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE INDOCTRINATION PROCLAIMS ITS — All Staff Required to Watch Video and
May 4, 2004  U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST CHARGES SCIENTIFIC FRAUD — Florida Panther Habitat and Population Data Skewed to Allow Development
April 13, 2004  FISH & WILDLIFE DIRECTOR OVERRULES HIS OWN SCIENTIFIC PANEL — Allows Continued Hunting of Rare Trumpeter Swans
March 4, 2004  ADMINISTRATION NEGOTIATES CEDING WILDLIFE REFUGE TO STATE — Kirwin Refuge in Kansas May Be First in a Wave; Groups Protest
May 28, 2003  TRUMPETER SWAN DATA UNDER FIRE FWS — Finding Relied on Invented and Distorted Studies
December 16, 2002  GROUPS DENOUNCE GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO DISCOUNT SWAN SURVEY RESULTS — Ongoing Legal Challenge
August 16, 2001  FISH & WILDLIFE OK'S HUNTING SEASON FOR RARE TRUMPETER SWAN FWS — Scientists Cry
August 8, 2000  THREATS & ASSAULTS AGAINST FEDERAL WILDLIFE STAFF — Fish & Wildlife Service Finally Begins Tracking Attacks on Employees
December 15, 1999  REFUGE MANAGERS CALL FOR REFORMS — National Wildlife Refuge System Moving in Wrong Direction, Survey Says
December 14, 1999  REFUGE MANAGERS REPORT HARASSMENT — National Wildlife Refuge Managers report threats
White Papers
Swan Dive — Trumpeter Swan Restoration Trumped by Politics (August 2001)
Swan Dive traces how the declining prospects for the survival of Greater Yellowstone's trumpeter swans have intertwined with decisions by the agencies charged with ensuring their survival. Unfortunatley, these decisions have imperiled this last native nesting population of trumpeters in the lower 48 states. more >>
Sitting Ducks — USFWS Assaults the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (June 1998)
According to its own law enforcement personnel, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is bowing to intense political pressure to allow unethical hunting techniques, principally baiting, which they believe will facilitate detrimental over-harvesting of migratory game birds. The Special Agents are outraged by what they see as their agency's retreat from strong enforcement against hunting practices which contradict the principles of fair chase and damage the very resource whose survival makes recreational hunting possible. more >>
Grizzly Science — Grizzly Bear Biology in the Greater Yellowstone (October 1997)
Experts from various state and federal agencies chronicle the conflict between the practice of wildlife biology and the reality of bureaucratic politics within public resource agencies of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Their professional experiences exhibit common problems of bureaucratic dysfunction, including suppression of science, falsification of information, and harassment of those working to ensure the survival of the grizzly bear. more >>
Noah's Ark is Leaking — The Department of Interior Abandons International Species Protection (May 1997)
The FWS has abandoned its legal obligation to protect international threatened and endangered species. There has been a decade-long de facto moratorium on the listing of foreign species. Commercial interests abuse the process by importing rare animals. more >>
Tarnished Trophies — The Department of Interior's Wild Sheep Loophole (October 1996)
According to its own specialists, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is driving protected foreign game species to extinction through the illegal issuance of permits to import game trophies. Despite mandates to enforce both the Endangered Species Act and international conservation treaties, the Assistant Directorate for International Affairs (AIA) within the Fish & Wildlife Service is promoting importation of sports-hunted trophies of threatened and, in some cases, endangered species. more >>
Surveys
2005  Politics Trumps Science At U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
1998  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Law Enforcement Survey
Other PEER Activities
Craig Manson for Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks
PEER Campaign: Scientific Integrity