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GAO-02-488R 1 (2002-03-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaorp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 March 6, 2002 Congressional Requesters Subject: Unauthorized Hair Samples Submitted for Analysis This report responds to your December 21, 2001, request and subsequent conversations with committee staff that we investigate allegations that biologists with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife improperly submitted hair samples for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis as part of the National Interagency Canada Lynx Survey (National Survey) during 1999 and 2000. Specifically, you asked us to (1) investigate allegations that biologists submitted for DNA analysis lynx hair samples that purported to be from the Gifford Pinchot and Wenatchee National Forests, but which were actually obtained from other sources and (2) determine whether the biologists who participated in the survey communicated about any such submissions. In addition, at the committee's request, we investigated a separate allegation that fake lynx hair samples were submitted to the laboratory as part of the National Survey for the Ashley National Forest, in Utah. The National Survey is designed to determine whether Canada lynx exist in forests in the northern United States from Vermont to Washington and in high elevation forests within the Cascade mountain range, such as the Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot National Forests, in Washington State. The survey has recovered samples of animal hair from these forests during specific periods of time' in 1999, 2000, and 2001.2 Such surveys are important given that the Canada lynx is listed as a threatened species and may require certain actions or land management restrictions under the Endangered Species Act of 19733 in areas where they are found. The Forest Service sponsors the survey, with assistance from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The University of Montana's Carnivore Conservation Genetics Laboratory (the laboratory) performed the DNA testing for the Forest Service. 'According to the field coordinator for the National Survey, the survey season primarily runs during the summer or fall months for approximately 4 weeks, although some surveys conducted in Midwest forests are done during the winter. 2Approximately 800 samples of hair were submitted to the laboratory for the entire survey in 1999 and approximately 1,000 such samples were submitted in 2000. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the number of samples from all of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho in 1999 is estimated to be no more than 200. 3 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et. seq. GAO-02-488R Canada Lynx Survey

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