Federal officials have tossed out a controversial rule that exempts millions of acres of Canada lynx habitat in northern Maine from additional regulation.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to revisit a November 2006 decision on critical habitat designation for Canada lynx along with six other decisions on protected species in the wake of a political meddling scandal.

The agency found problems with seven of the eight decisions it re-examined after allegations surfaced that a former deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of the Interior pressured Fish and Wildlife Service staff to change decisions and leaked information to industry officials.

Julie MacDonald, who oversaw the FWS for the Department of the Interior, resigned in May.

“The service believes that revising the seven identified decisions is supported by scientific evidence and the proper legal standards,” wrote Kenneth Stansell, acting FWS director, in a letter to U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee. “As resources allow, these revisions will be completed as expeditiously as possible.”

The agency’s decision opens the door for changes to a rule that excluded much of Maine’s North Woods from a controversial federal program aimed at protecting the lynx, a federally designated “threatened” species.

In November 2006, FWS officials unveiled a critical habitat designation plan for the Canada lynx that excluded about 10,600 square miles in northern Maine and another 5,000 square miles in other states. Environmental groups immediately criticized the exemptions and threatened legal action.

Critical habitat designation requires an extra layer of bureaucratic review on possible impacts to the species for any projects on federal land or projects that involve federal money or permits. Private landowners are only affected if they receive federal money or permits.

MacDonald apparently met with representatives of Plum Creek Timber Co., the Maine Forest Products Council and Maine’s congressional delegation about the issue while the final rule was being drafted. The commercial landowners said they were already managing their lands to protect the lynx.

Officials in the Washington office then directed the scientists developing the rule to exempt Plum Creek lands from critical habitat designation. FWS staff later decided to exempt all private commercial forestlands in the state in order to treat landowners equally.

At the time the final rule was announced, FWS staff said they hoped that by exempting their land, the timberland owners would be willing to maintain a cooperative relationship with the agency. Most of those landowners had also agreed to manage their properties for lynx, but those agreements were never put on paper.

Mark McCollough, an endangered species biologist with the FWS field office in Old Town, said the agency will continue talking with Maine’s large, private landowners about exemptions from critical habitat designation.

While he could not predict what would be in the final rule, McCollough said it likely will include provisions under which landowners could be excluded if they demonstrate they are managing their lands to protect the wildcats.

“We’re going to have to develop some standards and put them into the rule,” McCollough said.

The rule-making process will essentially begin from scratch again, meaning FWS must now develop a proposed rule. That proposal will then be subject to public hearings before a final rule is issued, likely sometime in 2009, McCollough said.

Tara Thornton with the Endangered Species Coalition in Maine said environmental groups could support exemptions as long as landowners’ obligations to protecting the cats are put in writing. Thornton said she was optimistic that more public input would be incorporated in the next rule.

“We’re hoping that some land in Maine will be included in critical habitat this time,” she said.

In addition to the Canada lynx, the agency also is reconsidering decisions on the white-tailed prairie dog, Hawaiian picture-wing fly, the Arroyo toad, the California red-legged frog and two decisions involving the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.

The agency said it did not find any scientific evidence to warrant changes in another questioned critical habitat decision involving the Southwestern willow flycatcher, saying it was “scientifically supportable.”

Kevin Miller may be reached at kmiller@bangordailynews.net or 990-8250.