Scientific Integrity Lost on America's Parks

During the Bush era, allegations of scientific misconduct rocked the Interior Department. Though Secretary Ken Salazar has vowed to clean up the mess, his selection for director of the National Park Service only compounds it. Jon Jarvis--whose nomination is poised for Senate approval today--has demonstrated contempt for truth, transparency and scientific integrity in his current role as head of the Pacific West regional office. In an effort to expand wilderness in Point Reyes National Seashore, Jarvis's subordinates misrepresented science to portray an oyster farm as an ecological menace. When locals challenged the accusation, Senator Dianne Feinstein stepped in, along with Jarvis's boss, Mary Bomar. Jarvis was instructed to settle the dispute through an independent review; instead, he inflamed it. Since 2007 he has misled federal investigators, deceived the public and undermined scientific process to defend his subordinates' wrongdoing. Jarvis's actions are punishable under federal laws governing scientific misconduct. In July an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences filed an official charge against him, yet Salazar turned a blind eye and the Interior Department's inspector general refused to investigate (shunting a federal mandate to do so). If Congress approves Jarvis's nomination without unraveling the regional director's record, it will defeat the hope that in the Obama era science would be driven by facts--not by politics...TheNation