Playing games with science
A US Fish and Wildlife Service official has been editing scientific studies to make them more paltable foir industry interests:
Ms. MacDonald’s critique of sage grouse biology and the biologists who work for an agency she oversees showed flashes of her strong property- rights background and her deference to industry views.
Among other comments, Ms. MacDonald called science saying the birds had numbered in the millions before settlers arrived in the 19th century “simply a fairy tale, constructed out of whole cloth.” She also questioned whether the grouse was dependent on sagebrush during the winter, saying “they will eat other stuff if it is available.”
Mr. Williams and two specialists on grouse said that its seasonal dependence on sagebrush was uncontested among biologists.