The source of Earth’s current extinction event is primarily attributable to human causes such as climate change, habitat loss, and the introduction of non-native species. While not all species may be saved from these human-driven impacts, there are some solutions that can effectively conserve others. In the US, the Endangered Species Act and other federal protections are crucial elements of such conservation. Federal scientists, especially those working for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), play a pivotal role in guiding these federal policy decisions. Therefore, it is important that scientific integrity is preserved in their work. We assessed the status of scientific integrity at 16 science-based federal agencies, including FWS and NOAA, through administering a survey to over 63,000 government scientists. Such survey efforts have been ongoing since 2005. In this talk, we report on results and trends from these survey efforts that highlight issues relevant to conservation policy in the United States.
Results/Conclusions
More than 10 years of survey results illustrate that many federal agencies have room to improve scientific integrity in the workplace. There were differences across agencies regarding if respondents perceived the effectiveness of their office or division had increased, decreased, or stayed the same across five years. In recent years, the FWS stood out in this result with 298 scientists reporting that their office’s effectiveness had decreased over time, even since the agency enacted a scientific integrity survey in 2011. Additionally, at FWS, 536 scientists reported that the agency was not collecting enough scientific information to effectively meet its mission. Notably, 70 percent of FWS scientists (601 respondents) reported that the level of consideration of political interests at the FWS was too high when surveyed during 2015. Similarly, fifty six percent (973 respondents) reported that political interests were given strong consideration in NOAA’s scientific practices. NOAA and the FWS are the two agencies responsible for implementing the Endangered Species Act of the United States. These survey results illustrate concrete steps that federal agencies can take to improve conservation policy such that conservation efforts are more effective, helping to maintain important ecosystem function.