February 3, 2021 3:15 a.m.

On Tuesday Senator Ron Wyden led a group of western Democrats including fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman Earl Blumenauer, in calling for an investigation into potential scientific meddling by the Trump administration in its rule that Wyden said is a threat to the spotted owl.

A release said Wyden is requesting federal investigators determine whether former Secretary David Bernhardt overruled guidance by career officials to push Trump’s rule to remove what Wyden calls “critical protections” for the Northern Spotted Owl on 3.4 million acres of federal lands in the Pacific Northwest.

Joining the three members of Oregon’s congressional delegation in making the request were three other senators and two representatives, all of them Democrats.

In a letter to Inspector General Mark Greenblatt, the lawmakers said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife decision “…appears to fit a larger pattern of malfeasance by the Trump administration’s political leadership at the Department of the Interior”. The strongly worded statement said “…David Bernhardt and his loyalists have demonstrated a willingness to insert themselves into the scientific process in order to achieve preferred policy outcomes, withhold information from the public, and even mislead Congress”.

The letter said that while the Biden administration has taken actions to mitigate the effects of the rule, the group is asking that the decision be reviewed to determine whether the USFWS contradicted or ignored scientific recommendations made by career staff.