Julie A. MacDonald (born July 14, 1955) was a deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the
United States Department of the InteriorThe United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, and to...
. MacDonald was appointed by former
Secretary of the InteriorThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Gale NortonGale Ann Norton served as the 48th United States Secretary of the Interior from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush...
on 3 May 2004 and resigned on 1 May, 2007 after an internal investigation found that she had "injected herself personally and profoundly in a number of
Endangered Species ActThe Endangered Species Act of 1973 is the most wide-ranging of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s...
decisions", a violation of the
Code of Federal RegulationsThe Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States...
under Use of Nonpublic Information and Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment.
MacDonald graduated from
University of California, DavisThe University of California, Davis is a public research university located in Davis, California, and one of ten campuses in the University of California system. Commonly referred to as UC Davis, the school was originally established in 1905 as the University Farm, an extension of UC Berkeley. UC...
in 1978 with a degree in
civil engineeringA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering, one of the many professions of engineering. Originally a civil engineer worked on public works projects and was contrasted with the military engineer, who worked on armaments and defenses...
.
Julie A. MacDonald (born July 14, 1955) was a deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks at the
United States Department of the InteriorThe United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, and to...
. MacDonald was appointed by former
Secretary of the InteriorThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Gale NortonGale Ann Norton served as the 48th United States Secretary of the Interior from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush...
on 3 May 2004 and resigned on 1 May, 2007 after an internal investigation found that she had "injected herself personally and profoundly in a number of
Endangered Species ActThe Endangered Species Act of 1973 is the most wide-ranging of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s...
decisions", a violation of the
Code of Federal RegulationsThe Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States...
under Use of Nonpublic Information and Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment.
Biography
MacDonald graduated from
University of California, DavisThe University of California, Davis is a public research university located in Davis, California, and one of ten campuses in the University of California system. Commonly referred to as UC Davis, the school was originally established in 1905 as the University Farm, an extension of UC Berkeley. UC...
in 1978 with a degree in
civil engineeringA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering, one of the many professions of engineering. Originally a civil engineer worked on public works projects and was contrasted with the military engineer, who worked on armaments and defenses...
. She joined the Department of the Interior in 1979 as a hydraulic engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation. Starting in 1987, MacDonald worked as a government administrator, including at the
California Resources AgencyThe California Natural Resources Agency, or the CNRA, is a state cabinet-level agency in the government of California. The institution and jurisdiction of the Resources Agency is provided for in California Government Code sections 12800 and 12805, et seq...
. MacDonald returned to the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2002 as an aide to the assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, the official who oversees the
United States Fish and Wildlife ServiceThe United States Fish and Wildlife Service is the unit of the U.S. Department of the Interior dedicated to the management and preservation of wildlife.Units within the FWS include:* National Wildlife Refuge System* * Federal Duck Stamp...
(FWS) and the National Parks Service, two of the eight bureaus in the Department of the Interior. On 3 May 2004, Interior Secretary Gale Norton promoted MacDonald to be deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks in the Department of the Interior.
Events leading to resignation
On 30 October, 2006, the
Union of Concerned ScientistsThe Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit science advocacy group based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists...
, a nonprofit group that
advocatesAdvocacy is the pursuit of influencing outcomes — including public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions — that directly affect people’s current lives...
for scientific integrity, alleged that McDonald had "personally reversed scientific findings, changed scientific conclusions to prevent endangered species from receiving protection, removed relevant information from a scientific document, and ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to adopt her edits."
That year, the Department of the Interior Inspector General Earl E. Devaney undertook an investigation into the allegations against MacDonald. In March 2007, Devaney issued his report of that investigation, leveling charges of misconduct against MacDonald. Although Deveney's investigation did not find evidence of illegal activity, his two chief conclusions were that MacDonald had repeatedly violated the
Code of Federal RegulationsThe Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States...
(C.F.R.), Use of Nonpublic Information and Basic Obligation of Public Service, Appearance of Preferential Treatment by giving nonpublic, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and that MacDonald had manipulated and undermined scientific findings in order to favor the
George W. Bush administration'sThe Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
policy goals and assist land developers. According to the Inspector General, "MacDonald has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Program's scientific reports from the field."
MacDonald resigned on 1 May, 2007, one week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on the Inspector General's findings. MacDonald was not given an opportunity to respond to the Inspector General's report until after it was leaked to media. MacDonald commented that she resigned due to public pressure. In November 2007, a followup report by the Inspector General found that MacDonald could have benefited financially from a decision to remove the Sacramento splittail fish from the federal endangered species list.
The
Washington Post called the events leading to MacDonald's resignation "the latest in a series of controversies in which government officials and outside scientists have accused the Bush administration of overriding or setting aside scientific findings that clashed with its political agenda." In the aftermath of her departure, many
endangered speciesThe Endangered Species Act of 1973 is the most wide-ranging of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s...
decisions issued during her tenure were reversed.
Aftermath
The Inspector General's findings led the Fish and Wildlife Service to reopen endangered species decisions made under MacDonald's supervision. The agency's director H. Dale Hall, formerly a wildlife biologist, called MacDonald's conduct "a blemish on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior." Hall reopened the agency's assessment of the southwest
willow flycatcherThe Willow Flycatcher is a small insect-eating bird of the tyrant flycatcher family.Adults have brown-olive upperparts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish underparts; they have an indistinct white eye ring, white wing bars and a small bill. The breast is washed with olive-grey. The upper...
after alleging that MacDonald had told field personnel to reduce the bird's natural nesting range from 2.1 miles to 1.8 miles. Hall also told the inspector general that MacDonald had altered range estimates for the willow flycatcher because a critical habitat designation might impact family property in California. However, MacDonald maintained that the property is nearly 300 miles from flycatcher habitat, and that her alteration of the bird’s range was approved by agency experts, including Hall.
Eight other endangered species decisions were reopened, including the
white-tailed prairie dogThe White-tailed Prairie Dog is found in western Wyoming and western Colorado with small areas in eastern Utah and southern Montana. The largest populations are in Wyoming. This prairie dog species lives between 5,000 and 10,000 feet, generally a higher elevation than other prairie dog species...
,
Preble's meadow jumping mousePreble's meadow jumping mouse is a subspecies of jumping mouse, endemic to the upland habitats of Colorado and Wyoming in North America. It is found nowhere else in the world...
,
arroyo toadThe Arroyo toad is a stocky, blunt-nosed, warty-skinned species of toad, between 5 and 7.5 cm long. It has horizontal pupils, and is greenish, grey or salmon on the dorsum with a light-colored stripe across the head and eyelids...
,
California red-legged frogThe California Red-legged Frog is a moderate to large species of frog. It is nowadays known under the scientific name Rana draytonii, after being long included with the Northern Red-legged Frog as subspecies of a single species called simply Red-legged Frog...
, and the
Canada lynxThe Canadian Lynx is a North American mammal of the cat family, Felidae. It is a close relative of the Eurasian Lynx . Some authorities regard both as conspecific. However, in some characteristics the Canadian Lynx is more like the Bobcat than the Eurasian Lynx...
. In November 2007, the FWS announced that of the eight species reviewed, seven had been returned to endangered status after finding that their prior reviews had been "tainted by political pressure". In December 2007, the US District Court for the District of Idaho overturned the FWS rejection of a petition to list the
sage grouseThe Sage-grouse or Greater Sage-grouse, is the largest grouse in North America. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada...
as threatened and endangered, citing misconduct by MacDonald. In its decision, the court wrote that "The FWS decision was tainted by the inexcusable conduct of one of its own executives...who was neither a scientist nor a sage-grouse expert, had a well-documented history of intervening in the listing process."
In September 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to more than triple the habitat of the
California red-legged frogThe California Red-legged Frog is a moderate to large species of frog. It is nowadays known under the scientific name Rana draytonii, after being long included with the Northern Red-legged Frog as subspecies of a single species called simply Red-legged Frog...
. The 2008 decision ignored that which was reached under MacDonald, due to "the involvement of Department of Interior personnel which may have inappropriately influenced the extent and locations of critical habitat". According to the
LA Times, "The agency revisited the original habitat designation, citing scientific miscalculations and political manipulation by a former Interior Department official, Julie MacDonald."
A December 2008 report by Inspector General Devaney found that MacDonald had interfered with 13 of the 20 endangered species rulings that were reevaluated. In a letter to U.S. Senator
Ron WydenRonald Lee "Ron" Wyden is an American politician from Oregon and a member of the Democratic Party. He won a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 1980, and served there until 1996, when he became a U.S...
, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, Devaney said, "MacDonald injected herself personally and profoundly in a number of ESA decisions. We determined that MacDonald's management style was abrupt and abrasive, if not abusive, and that her conduct demoralized and frustrated her staff as well as her subordinate managers." Wyden, who commissioned the report, said "This report makes it crystal clear how one person’s contempt for the public trust can infect an entire agency...[MacDonald caused] significant harm to the integrity of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and...untold waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars."