Scientists challenge US wildlife director’s credentials

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM (AP) — Dozens of scientists from universities and environmental groups are pushing for the removal of the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying she lacks the training required to lead the agency despite the obtaining Senate confirmation last year.

Concerns over service director Martha Williams’ credentials were outlined in a letter from 100 scientists sent to President Joe Biden and US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Wednesday.

Williams is a philosophy attorney, and her critics say she lacks the scientific training required by federal law for the job. Government prosecutors dismissed claims that she is unaccredited, but they did not dispute her lack of a science degree.

There was no discussion of Williams’ credentials during his Senate confirmation hearing. She was confirmed in a voice vote in February 2022 with bipartisan support.

She worked as an attorney for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks for more than two decades, then headed the state agency for three years before being named Senior Deputy Director of US Fish and Wildlife. Service after Biden’s election. During the Obama administration, she served as an assistant attorney at the Department of the Interior for two years.

The call for his resignation or firing comes as Biden faces mounting pressure from some wildlife advocates who argue the administration hasn’t done enough to protect endangered plants and animals. of disappearance from extinction.

Many of the scientists named in the letter have also been involved in efforts to maintain federal protections for endangered grizzly bears in western states and gray wolves across much of the country.

Williams came to the Biden administration from Montana, where wolf hunting is legal. She told her confirmation hearing that the grizzly bear population around Yellowstone National Park has recovered, putting her at odds with wildlife advocates.

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The battle over her qualifications has simmered since she was announced as Biden’s choice at the end of 2021. The attorney and the Interior Department’s inspector general have dismissed complaints about it, but a lawsuit is still pending in federal court that focuses on educational requirements set by Congress when it overhauled the wildlife agency in 1974.

Federal law states that only a person with “scientific training and experience” can be appointed director of the service.

Williams has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Montana, according to Congressional and Interior Department records.

The Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to multiple emails regarding his qualifications. Interior spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz declined to comment on the letter, and the White House did not respond.

Lawyers for the Biden administration said in court papers that the law requires Williams’ education to be considered “cumulatively” with his experience.

“She clearly has the required background,” they wrote.

A spokesman for Montana Sen. Steve Daines said Wednesday the Republican lawmaker stood by his vote for Williams.

U.S. Senator from Montana Jon Tester, a Democrat, said that since his confirmation, Williams “has brought collaborative, science-based solutions to the difficult issues facing our wildlife and public lands.”

Other than resigning or being fired by the president, impeachment is the only mechanism to remove Senate-confirmed civilian officers such as Williams, according to Katherine Scott, an associate historian with the U.S. Senate Historical Office.

Scientists calling for his ouster say they fear the administration is setting a precedent by circumventing the science training requirement.

They claim that Williams is serving in contradiction to the administration’s own policies and ethics rules. They pointed to an assessment by Biden’s Scientific Integrity Task Force which suggests that executive branch positions should be filled by suitably qualified candidates and that violations of scientific integrity policies should be caught. as seriously as ethical violations.

Scientists include Dave Parsons, who led government efforts to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf to the Southwest; two board members and a scientist from Silver Spring, Maryland Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility; well-known biology professors Paul and Anne Ehrlich at Stanford University; and wolf experts William Ripple and Robert Beschta of Oregon State University.

With the exception of Williams, every director since the agency’s overhaul in the 1970s had a scientific background, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

“I see this appointment as a tipping point, where politics will forever trump statutory powers,” said Parsons, author of the letter.

In the lawsuit challenging her confirmation, Illinois attorney Robert Aland claimed that decisions made by Williams would be “contaminated” since she was illegally appointed. Wildlife “could suffer the most severe adverse consequences” as a result, he said.

A judge dismissed the case on jurisdictional issues and did not address the education dispute. Aland appealed.

Aland previously sued the agency over its attempts to lift protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Federal judges reinstated protections in both cases, but a new proposal to lift the protections is being considered by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency is planning a new rule that could lift protections for gray wolves in early 2024.

Some of the scientists in Wednesday’s letter said decisions about bears and wolves rest with Williams. They said his qualifications could be used as an argument in future litigation over the case.

Williams is not the first to have her qualifications questioned. Under former President Donald Trump, political appointee Greg Sheehan oversaw Fish and Wildlife for more than a year as the agency’s deputy director at a time when no director was in place.

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unsuccessfully sought to appoint Sheehan as acting director, but government officials said he did not have the science degree required for the job under federal law. Sheehan resigned in 2018 and was never officially appointed.

Before Trump’s nominee Aurelia Skipwith was confirmed for the job in 2019, environmental groups objected in part because she had studied molecular biology and not wildlife specifically. The Center for Biological Diversity has called her an “industry companion” because of Skipwith’s past work with chemical company Monsanto.

Center for Biological Diversity director of government affairs Brett Hartl said the group was aware of Williams’ lack of a degree, but decided to support her nonetheless.

He said his group believes having “an outside person” as director would provide a better opportunity to address the deep-seated cultural issues that have plagued the agency over the years. Hartl agreed that the law requires a science degree, but said the Senate has the ultimate power to decide who is qualified.

Despite Williams’ early support, Hartl said his group was disappointed with the Biden administration’s failure to replace a Trump-era rule that weakened protections for many species.

“To me, that’s what she should be rated on,” he said. “We’ve been quite disappointed with his tenure so far.”

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

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