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House Resources Chairman Urges Employee
Dismissal and Top-to-Bottom Federal Review of Lynx Survey in Wake of Lynx Hair Hoax Reps. Hansen & McInnis voice concerns to Interior & Agriculture Secretaries Washington, D.C. Dec. 18, 2001 - House Resources Chairman James V. Hansen and Forest and Forest Health Subcommittee Chairman Scott McInnis today called for a thorough review of the government's three-year inventory of the threatened Canada lynx after learning that five federal employees and two Washington State employees planted false evidence of lynx presence in two national forests. Hansen and McInnis questioned the validity of the inventory in light of the hoax and called for the prompt dismissal of involved employees in a joint letter to Agriculture Secretary Anne M. Veneman and Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton. "The credibility of the lynx survey is now hanging by a thread," the men wrote the two cabinet members. In a Dec. 13th letter to Congress, the Forest Service asserted that the integrity of the lynx program is being maintained. But no evidence was offered to support that claim, Reps. Hansen and McInnis noted in their letter. They urged the two departments to provide proof of the program's integrity in light of the discovered hoax. "This lynx survey impacts 16 states and 57 national forests," Hansen said. "Getting this survey wrong could have broad and profound impact on the management of millions of acres of federal land. That, in turn, impacts local economies and people's livelihoods. "Planting false evidence of lynx presence would limit the use of natural resources in forests wrongly believed to be lynx habitat," Hansen said. "It would limit people's access to those forests. It would virtually destroy recreational opportunities there. That, in turn, could be devastating to nearby local economies that rely on business from tourists and recreationists. This hoax, if it hadn't been discovered, could have wrecked some people's way of life. These involved employees should be promptly fired and the entire national inventory reviewed for proven accuracy." The hoax took place last fall, in the waning months of the Clinton Administration. Five federal employees and two Washington State employees have admitted to planting three separate samples of Canadian lynx hair on rubbing posts in the Gifford Pinchot and Wenatchee National Forests. The rubbing posts were being used to identify the presence of the cat. The employees claimed they were conducting their own test of the reliability of the federal inventory. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml] |