Hi Tweets, You think we have problems here in the States? This doesn't
surprize me so much as it frustrates me....

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net
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Government tries to silence scientist who wants to protect spotted owls

Stephen Hume
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, May 09, 2002

On the surface, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee's court challenge
this week of a provincial government decision to approve logging in a
nesting area for the rare and endangered spotted owl is a classic
confrontation between industrial values and the conservation ethic.

The province's ministry of forests approved the logging plans in the
Chilliwack Forest District on the grounds that logging will "conserve" or
"enhance" habitat for the spotted owl. The Western Canada Wilderness
Committee, represented in court by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, argues
that the decision has overruled the province's own scientific advice to the
contrary.

Tucked away among the affidavits filed with the court, however, is another
story which tells of a clash between bureaucratic empires. It reveals how
insignificant Joyce Murray's ministry of water, land and air protection
actually is when it comes to a conflict between environme ntal protection
values and the economic interests pursued by Mike de Jong's powerful
ministry of forests.

The spotted owl was first identified by the federal scientific committee on
the status of endangered species as being at risk of "imminent extirpation
throughout all or a significant portion of its range" in British Columbia
back in 1986.

At the time the spotted owl was designated as endangered, there were 28
known nesting sites in the province's old-growth forests -- the only place
this little owl rears its young. Today, according to a specialized protocol
developed by provincial government wildlife biologists to monitor the
inventory of this rare and extremely vulnerable owl, there are 22 sites
known to be occupied -- not all of them by breeding pairs.

In other words, in the 16 years since science first identified the
precarious status of the spotted owl in B.C., its known presence has
declined by about 20 per cent, a steep and significant trend of decline in
any wildlife stock but one that could reasonably be called catastrophic in a
population no bigger than a couple of elementary school classes.

So it's understandable that ministry of water, land and air protection
wildlife habitat biologist Carla Lenihan, employed by the province
specifically for spotted owl inventory and management, should be asked for a
scientific opinion regarding a logging plan for what she considered crucial
owl habitat near Siwash Creek.

When Lenihan was shown a map of the planned logging area, she says in a
sworn affidavit that she told the ministry of forests "in no uncertain
terms" not to consider logging in the area because it had a rare nest site
in one part and there had been multiple spotted owl sightings elsewhere.

After walking the area with both loggers and ministry of forests personnel,
Lenihan says she told them that the area where logging was proposed was
"basically the last piece of owl habitat that connects one side of the
valley to the other, the north and south of the valley being entirely
logged."

Her advice was disregarded. Next, to what she describes as her complete
surprise and frustration, the ministry of forests approved logging for the
spotted owl habitat.

"I believe that harvesting of critical owl habitat will result in direct or
indirect mortality of spotted owls," Lenihan's affidavit says. "Direct
mortality from logging is not unheard of with spotted owls. During on-site
inspections, I have banged on trees to attract owls' attention, including
banging on the very tree they were roosting in, and the owls have remained
in the tree. I believe that owl mortality can be caused when the owl remains
in the tree being felled (and also indirectly through removal of critical
habitat)."

But her affidavit says that none of her concerns was ever addressed as the
logging plans for the area proceeded through the approval process.

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee heard of her worries about the
spotted owl habitat in Chilliwack Forest District and, as is the right of
any member of the public, asked her to provide information about what she
knew of these events. It then asked her to swear an affidavit regarding the
information she had provided.

She says her superiors in what's now the ministry of water, land and air
protection gave her permission to do so, but the next morning she was told
that she could not swear the affidavit and was summoned to a meeting with
senior bureaucrats from the ministry of forests.

Her supervisors, she says, then sent her an e-mail forbidding her to speak
to the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, the Sierra Legal Defence Fund or
the media. She was next told that she faced possible suspension.

At that point Lenihan says she contacted the B.C. Government Service and
Employees Union and informed it that she was under threat of suspension for
doing what she considered to be her job.

"I also advised that I was concerned about having to meet with ministry of
forests to resolve matters after they had ignored my efforts to protect
endangered species habitat," her affidavit says.

Then she went ahead and swore the affidavit "because I believe that it is my
ethical and moral obligation as a professional biologist without regard to
the consequences to my employment."

I thought Premier Gordon Campbell's New Era was all about integrity and
transparency, not muzzling scientists who are bound by a professional code
of ethics to tell the truth as they see it. Or denying to some members of
the public access to critical information on the basis of some senior
bureaucrat's or politician's arbitrary decision.

What kind of credibility do the government's claims that it is guided by
science have when that science is subordinated to policy decisions which the
scientists themselves believe are entirely contrary to the mandates of their
jobs?

Frankly, the Liberals need more public employees of the courage and moral
fibre of Carla Lenihan.

And the spotted owl deserves a vigorous defence from the minister of water,
land and air PROTECTION (that's my emphasis because it seems to escape the
minister that it is the critical part of her mandate).

shume at islandnet.com

? Copyright 2002 Vancouver Sun