While it's nice that Mav is happy about this, I'm still somewhat annoyed.
It's clear that there was no consensus in the broader Wikimedia community for this. If there was a discussion on meta, I haven't seen it, so it would only be those people who are subscribed to the list that would've known about this. It's also apparent that even on the list, Mav wasn't the only one with objections. But because the three or four proponents of this shouted him (and others) down more vocally, it seems the board decides to go off and do their own thing. I don't make the accusation that it was underhanded, but at the same time, I hope it won't be something that's repeated.
If there is a non-forking policy, where is it, and why haven't I heard of it until now? If there is conditions placed on the creation of Wikispecies, what were they? Disclosure, people, disclosure.
I still believe that Wikispecies should be treated the same as Mark's attempt to start a Traditional Chinese Wikipedia has been - suspended until there is community consensus for it to exist.
-- ambi