Fish and Wildlife head promotes cooperation with stakeholders

Paul Hoffman, deputy assistant secretary of Interior, says if ANWR drilled, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Parks would be in charge of development

Steve Sutherlin

PNA Managing Editor

Paul Hoffman, deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks of the U.S. Department of the Interior was in Anchorage June 24 to meet with department employees in Alaska. Hoffman went on to Fairbanks, and then to a float trip on the Noatuk River, which flows westward along the south foothills of the Brooks Range below the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Hoffman oversees the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manage the lands the Noatak flows through.

Hoffman said he was meeting with Fish and Wildlife Service offices to advance the administration’s agenda with regard to the use of the public lands. He said President Bush is taking a businesslike approach to the management of federal lands, setting goals based on outcomes such as acres restored or wildlife saved, rather than simply throwing resources at problems.

The department will seek to maintain access to public lands for economic reasons, including energy development, timber grazing, hunting and fishing, while still protecting the lands for future use, Hoffman said. But while the administration has a clear goal for the lands, it wants to set a new tone of consideration for stakeholder interests and input. The department is endeavoring to go to the localities involved and find solutions to land use issues rather than employ a top-down model of management.

Hoffman said department employees would be charged to think less like regulators and more like cooperators.

“We want to begin with the people in the field that interact with the citizens and companies, not only change the laws and regulations they are charged with enforcing but to change the way in which they carry out their mission,” he said.

Hoffman said that in making his visit to the state he intended not only to become familiar with Alaska, but also to identify people whose knowledge would contribute to the management and responsible development of prospective lands under his jurisdiction.

“We think the people of Alaska know best how to solve the problems that face Alaska,” he said.

Fish and Wildlife would oversee ANWR development

Hoffman said there were two primary reasons Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton so strongly supports oil exploration in ANWR. First, it is apparent that government leaders and the majority of the people support the opening of ANWR, he said, and secondly, new domestic oil production has economic and security importance to the nation.

“We believe by drilling in the winter and by using ice roads and ice pads, and having mitigations to minimize influence on migrating caribou herds that we can have our cake and eat it too,” Hoffman said. “The resource can be developed in a way that is considerate of the wildlife resources on the refuge”

Hoffman said there are already examples of responsible oil extraction from federal reserves and parklands, for instance, an oil development at South Padre Island drilled from private land nearby.

Hoffman said it is important that ethical science be brought to bear on the decision making process. He said the department was in the process of developing an ethics policy.

“You don’t decide what your outcome is going to be and then try to find the science to support it, you go out and do the science from a neutral position and find out what the science tells you,” he said.

Hoffman said during his tenure he would like to help restore people’s faith in federal land management practices. He intends to carry a message to Interior agencies directing them to work with other agencies within the department, with other federal agencies, and with state and local governments.

Hoffman said he has experience at bringing diverse interests to the table to negotiate over resource issues.

“I worked in the chamber of commerce in a small town in Wyoming very dependent on access to federal lands for livelihoods, whether it be grazing, timber, or oil and gas production.”