For some reason — politics maybe? — Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission can’t make up its mind about the marbled murrelet. First the commissioners said the bird was endangered, then they decided it wasn’t. Then earlier this month the commissioners decided it’s endangered again.

What changed? The winds of politics, apparently, because the state Department of Fish and Wildlife says the only thing that’s happened to the bird is its population has increased 2.2% a year for the past 19 years.

It’s hardly a species requiring heroic efforts to rescue.

The department even recommended that the commission not list the bird as endangered — so much for “following the science.” Apparently, that only applies if the science agrees with the politics.

Among the concerns cited by the commission for increasing protections for the marbled murrelet were climate change, changes in the Pacific Ocean and oil spills. One wonders if a comet hitting Oregon shouldn’t have been added to the list of factors over which the commission has no control.

All of this would be little more than coffee shop chatter if it didn’t hurt real people.

More than 3 million acres of state and federal forestland have been taken out of timber production and designated protected habitat for such birds as the marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl. That translates into lost jobs and depressed local economies.

In other words, the birds are doing fine, but the people are struggling.

It’s ironic that some of the same politicians who promote more protections for birds such as the marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl by shutting out the timber industry do so at the expense of Oregon families.

Then they circle back and talk about “treating” publicly owned forests to reduce the severity of wildfires and “creating jobs.”

Our question: Why not come up with timber sales that would reduce the threat of wildfires and still maintain adequate habitat for birds that are threatened or endangered?

Then the forests wouldn’t need to be “treated” at the expense of taxpayers.

Our suspicion is too many state and federal political leaders are bowing to the environmental lobby at the expense of Oregonians and the state economy. Environmentalists routinely use the state and federal endangered species acts as a blunt instrument and to drag agencies and citizens into court to stop logging and other economic activities.

The result is real damage to real people.

“The only conclusion one can draw about a decision to designate a species whose population is increasing as ‘endangered’ is that it had everything to do with politics and absolutely nothing to do with science,” said Sara Duncan, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Forest and Industries Council.

Or you can just call it another ride on the magical marbled murrelet merry-go-round.