|
Whistleblower lobs volley at Forest Service wildlife surveys
By Sean Wolfe
A history of sloppy work and incomplete files could impact future development of the ski area on Mount Ashland, as well as logging operations, and controlled burns planned by the Forest Service, a zone biologist charges. In a 16-page memo - composed in January, and recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland - Joel Pagel, Forest Service zone biologist for the Ashland and Applegate ranger districts, unleashes a volley of criticism at his employer. In his memo, a copy of which was furnished to the Tidings, Pagel said he was unwilling to allow his reputation to rest on the poor work of his predecessors, and said the past decade of biological work conducted by the Forest Service - which includes surveys for species that could be impacted by logging, burning, or development - should be considered suspect. Forest Service staff concede problems may exist and have vowed to investigate Pagel's claims. Pagel includes his own work on the controversial Mt. Ashland Ski Area expansion project because he was relying on data collected by previous biologists. In his memo, Pagel, known to colleagues as "Jeep," wrote that "a review of the Ashland/Applegate Ranger District's wildlife program has revealed that much of the information collected and collated over the past 18 years is, for the most part, invalid. "Further, determinations for projects past and present appear to have been made on sketchy information that was not accomplished to protocol, or not accomplished at all. … The effect of these findings suggest that the currently active projects [like projects in the Ashland Watershed] or planned projects [like Mt. Ashland] have not had adequate biological information collected, and are or will be out of compliance with the current rules and regulations of the USDA Forest Service," Pagel wrote. Pagel is a raptor and endangered species specialist currently working on completing his doctoral dissertation through the University of California at Davis. To avoid reprisal for his memo, he highlighted his right to protection under federal whistleblower legislation. Despite his specialty in raptors - he is currently completing an extensive report for the Bureau of Land Management - Pagel claims he was forced into the zone biologist position, and that he's not the only one. "A series of district biologists have been placed in the post that have not wanted to be there," Pagel said in an interview Friday. "Good biology work is a function of desire. As a result, years of data collection have been poor. And there have been years of lack of supervision, through a changing retinue of Forest Supervisors. To be fair, some biologists have produced stellar work, but not all the data collected adhere to protocol." Erin Connelly, district ranger for the Applegate Ranger District, said Forest Service staff has already begun investigating Pagel's claims. A report relating to the investigation is due out in the next month. "When Jeep brought this to our attention, our first concern was to look at how it affected projects current or imminent. We did delay or postpone some work depending on the outcome of this report. The questions we have is can we move forward, are our records faulty, or are they OK, and we can move forward," Connelly said. "What Jeep's note was helpful for was pointing out areas we need to pay more attention to. We're looking at (the Forest Service's wildlife survey and management program). And we will have to look at aspects relating to the training and skills of specialists, so that we can improve and maintain excellent skills." Lee Webb, the Forest Service wildlife biologist for the Rogue River National Forest, is one of several staff investigating Pagel's claims. He acknowledged that some work on wildlife surveys was incomplete. "We tried to figure out what was not up to snuff. And we found some mollusk surveys that have incorrect times. One way you show that you did the work, is you have a starting time and an ending time. In a lot of cases that wasn't there, and if you didn't write it down, you didn't do it," Webb said. "Does that mean they didn't do the work? Or that they forgot to do the paperwork? Which is it? You don't know."
|