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EDITORIAL: HOW TO KEEP SCIENCE OUT OF THE U.S. ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

Like many SCB members, I have a fantastic job. I get to do research on wild things in wild places and actually get paid to do what I love. Because I enjoy such a privileged life, and because I got into this business to make a difference, I donate at least 100 hours per year to conservation activities.

One of my services has been to help write or implement recovery plans for species listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. I currently serve on the team writing the recovery plan for the ocelot, and as an advisor helping to implement the plan for the Mexican spotted owl.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR3824, the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act, which would gut the Endangered Species Act in several ways. Here I address only one issue: the House bill would cripple how science is used to list species as endangered and to write recovery plans. If the Senate passes this bill, I will never serve on a recovery team again. Nor, I suspect, will many of you.

HR3824's science provisions are a solution in search of a problem. The use of science under the Endangered Species Act is not broken and does not need to be fixed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service already uses sound science in listing decisions, recovery plans, and consultations.

Don't take my word for it-take the word of the U.S. Congress itself. In 2003, an arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, independently reviewed all 64 listing decisions made during 1999-2002. The title of the GAO report says it all: "The Fish & Wildlife Service uses sound science in listing decisions."

The GAO further noted only ten of the 1260 domestic listed species have been removed from the endangered species list after new scientific information indicated the original listing was not warranted. More importantly, these ten species were removed from the list once the new information became available. In other words, science worked exactly as it should: it corrected errors in light of new information.

A few years earlier Congress asked the U.S. National Research Council report to evaluate how science was used under the Endangered Species Act. Their report similarly concluded there was no "major scientific issue that seriously hinders implementation of ESA."

Clearly the use of science does not need to be fixed. But how will the House bill wreck it?

In short, Section 3 of HR3824 would make it hard for the Fish and Wildlife Service to use models ("studies without empirical data" in the language of the bill) or to use any scientific information that has not been peer-reviewed. At first glance, this seems reasonable - all scientists are in favor of empirical data and peer review! But these provisions would cripple scientific participation in conserving endangered species.

First, the bias against models runs counter to the National Research Council report (mentioned above) that unanimously recommended greater use of modeling, such as population viability analysis, in decisions and plans related to endangered species. The federal government relies on models when it launches a rocket into space, embarks on a new military technology program, designs a dam, or makes a weather forecast. Why should we pass a law telling federal agencies not to use models to help conserve endangered species?

Second, the prohibition on science that has not been peer-reviewed means that federal agencies and recovery teams could not consider information in graduate theses, reports of state and federal agencies, and documents prepared by consultants. In many recovery plans, most of the critically important information is in theses and reports that were not subject to formal peer review.

As scientists, we are trained to carefully evaluate scientific papers, peer-reviewed or not. We volunteer to write recovery plans because we can use our special training for public benefit. If the House has its way, recovery plans will be short, unscientific, and ineffective.

Scientists do make mistakes, and sometimes these mistakes affect endangered species. A recent review (which I chaired) of scientific literature on the endangered Florida Panther found some scientific inferences used in issuing biological opinions were horribly flawed. Ironically, these unsound inferences were contained in peer-reviewed, empirical papers that the new law would enshrine as "best science." More important, after receiving our report, the Fish and Wildlife Service stopped using the flawed ideas. As with the listing decisions described above, the scientific process detected and corrected unreliable science in a timely fashion.

The beauty of science is not that it gets everything right every time, but that it is self-correcting. Good science cannot be legislated. We must rely on our scientists and our management agencies to use science responsibly. We are fortunate that, by and large, this is already the case for decisions related to endangered species.

When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, my home state of Arizona had no Mexican wolves, California condors, or black-footed ferrets. Thanks to the Act, these species now live in Arizona, and no Arizona species has gone extinct. For 32 years, the Endangered Species Act has invited scientists to participate in this remarkable success story. I hope the Senate will not join the House in locking us out.

I urge every SCB member in the United States to read the full text of HR3824 at http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/. You will find that abuse of science is not the only egregious flaw in this bill. It is time to let the environmental staff person in your Senators' and Congressperson's offices know your concerns. The Senate has yet to act, and the House will have to vote on the compromise House-Senate bill. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, or better yet, an editorial. Your involvement can make a difference.

Paul Beier is a professor of conservation biology at Northern Arizona University and Secretary of SCB.

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