From the Idaho Statesman (Rocky Barker) --
"The U.S. Bureau of Land Management told scientists working on a $40 million study mapping ecological trends that they couldn’t look at the effects of grazing, an environmental group says.
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a complaint Wednesday saying the BLM study violated the Department of Interior’s new policy designed to limit political interference.
The complaint is the first major test of a policy that Barack Obama promised environmental groups in the 2008 presidential election.
Obama said his administration would emphasize science over political considerations, contrasting that approach with what critics said were Bush administration officials who handcuffed scientists and subverted science on public lands, wildlife and endangered species — including keeping sage grouse from being listed as an endangered species..."
Read more: Idaho Statesman 12/1/11
We will never have competent public land management without understanding this critical element of land use.
