Northern Spotted Owl Protection Plan May Harm Rival Birds

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The Obama administration is going forward with a plan to protect the endangered northern spotted owl that includes removing or killing rival barred owls.

In its latest attempt to save the imperiled owl, the Department of the Interior plan would designate habitat considered critical in Washington, Oregon and California. It would allow some logging in the areas, however, to reduce the risk of forest fires and to create jobs.

The spotted owl has seen its numbers decline by about 40 percent in 25 years. The greatest threats to the species are habitat loss and competition from barred owls, which are extending their range westward from the eastern half of the United States and Canada.

The draft plan is "a science-based approach to forestry that restores the health of our lands and wildlife and supports jobs and revenue for local communities," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement this week.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering "combinations of both lethal and non-lethal" methods to remove the barred owl, the statement said. They include capturing and relocating them or placing them in permanent captivity.

The spotted owl was designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. The move led to logging cutbacks on national forests and other federal lands in western Washington, Oregon and California.

Salazar's announcement was accompanied by a presidential memorandum that calls on the Department of the Interior to direct forest industries on how logging can be carried out in habitat areas, while at the same time preserving the largest possible areas from loggers.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court order to redesignate critical habitat by Nov. 15. The public comment period lasts for 90 days.

The Washington Forest Protection Association, an industry group, said it backed the Fish and Wildlife Service's assessment of the impact of the barred owl on the spotted owl's survival and the need for hands-on forest management.

But the current proposal would take 1.27 million acres (514,000 hectares) of forest out of production, representing more than 15,000 jobs across the three states, the association said in a statement.

"With the presence of the barred owl, scientists say that setting aside even more land will do little to help the spotted owl thrive, and may make matters worse by making even more room for the barred owl to flourish," said Mark Doumit, the association's executive director. (Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Comments

[OccupyforEarth]

02:15 PM on 03/02/2012

BULL. This is not science. It will create an illusion that the spotted owl populations are increasing (they will be - temporarily) and that will give Big Timber time to come in and do more damage. Juvenille spotteds disperse in random directions which means they don't always find contiguous old growth. The fragmentation of old growth is why the spotteds are doing worse and the barreds are taking over. That won't change - the barreds will continue to migrate in and shooting them will not work. It's ludicrous, this plan.

The barreds also cross breed with spotteds. So Obama will capture and shoot barreds for no good reason. Did they mention that the DOI also plans to trap and put into captivity thousands of barred ows? It's obscene.

[woobernicker]

12:49 PM on 03/02/2012

Since when does the government get to play God. We know they have that mind set now, which clearly is demonstrated in this most ignorant decision. Entire towns were lost, Mills shut down, and lives turned upside down, by the infamous Spotted Owl. Bad Science, incompetent forestry employees, hidden agendas, and much more are all to blame. Recently two forestry biologist working on spotted owl were just arrested for embezzling $900,000 dollars of the spotted owl studies fund from the Turok Tribes! Just this week, look it up! Why that kind of money is allocated to a study any bird is beyond reason, but the real issue is how can we believe any of this science, or trust any of these results when their is nobody policing each department. They create edangered species for self job justification and to rob the public treasury. The shut down a proposed Ski Resort, because they found what they stated was Wolverine hair nearby. After this development was scrapped after millions of dollars were already poured into it, the hair was found to be Bobcat Hair. No wolverine existed there. Most of these biologist /department heads are hippie enviromentalist, and were brainwashed that America is bad by liberal progressive professers. They have no clue how to really manage forest as is evident by all the money these departments absorb yet deliver no logical results! Let nature work! This adminstration playing God is as scary as Hitlers ethnic genocide.

[OccupyforEarth]

03:37 PM on 03/03/2012

Woobernicker, of corse i agree the owls should not be shot ( and i am not against hunting in general), but dozens if not hundreds of scientists study spotted owls. Just two corrupt biologistsmdoes not prove anything. Do you mistrust all priests due to the pedophile ones?

We do have an obligation to close down projects that threwen endangerd species. We only get one shot at preserving the. Don't know about the wolverine situation, maybe a link would tell more of the story.

[Vera Gottlieb]

10:55 AM on 03/02/2012

When are we going to learn not to meddle in Mother Nature's affairs? We should cherish and protect rather than always destroy for the measly dollar.

[angusmciver]

12:00 AM on 03/02/2012

With the presence of the barred owl, scientists say that setting aside even more land will do little to help the spotted owl thrive, and may make matters worse by making even more room for the barred owl to flourish," said Mark Doumit, the association's executive director....... So is the industry saying cut down the forest so the barred owl will not have a place to flourish?

[kwaut lizard]

09:09 AM on 03/02/2012

Apparently yes, I'm sure the innuendo is lost via today's journalism. They are clearly balancing the fact that the Spotted Owls numbers are declining while the Barred Owls numbers are rising and its distribution is extending westward and is encroaching in on the Spotted Owls.

[Linus521]

08:38 PM on 03/01/2012

The irony in this, the spotted owl began to fall towards extinction because of habitat loss or the logging and felling of the old growth trees. As usual, too little, too late was done for this enchanting native bird, and Obama, is right this minute, attempting to gut the Endangered Species Act that will permit more habitat destruction, more logging, more roads to do more logging, and even more species will go extinct.

Already, this vital law/act is horrifically under-funded and ineffectual. In spite of all, we aren't protecting and saving our biodiversity. The success stories are few and far between. More logging while this beautiful birds' planet is being killed for logs, roads and human intrusions.

[angusmciver]

11:56 PM on 03/01/2012

Did you ever read William Dietrich's 'The Final Forest'?... Excellent read.

[Linus521]

01:18 AM on 03/02/2012

Thank you so much, Angus. I wrote this info down and plan to read it.

[kwaut lizard]

09:23 AM on 03/02/2012

Most agreed that the measures necessary to curtail the Spotted Owls demise were tempered by an angry logging industries harsh reaction. I think a majority Republican house and senate might take some responsibility for the continuous, pathetic and unrlelenting attack on the US EPA, Department of Interior and their associated bureaus. And the Endangered Species Act is most definitely underfunded and understaffed .... but ineffectual? Hardly!

In support of the ESA's efforts, it is one of the worlds most resoundingly successful pieces of legislation which begs to ask what it would be like if it had the necessary support and dedicated political devotion that it so resolutely deserves. Have a good look at their work: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/index.html it is amazing. They provide a worldwide database of endangered species, provide the impetus for IUCN's worldwide efforts, have an amazingly successful history of species conservation, have brought numerous species back from the brink, work diligently to maintain the genetic stock of numerous threatened and endangered species, are the envy of species conservation efforts in every country that recognizes the absolute importance of maintaining the worlds gene pool. It needs help, especially during idiotic political times when the majority of politicians overlook successes and are focussing on the toys being waved at them by special interests and industry.

[Linus521]

12:22 PM on 03/02/2012

I just finished a book a recognized ecologist wrote, and he begs differently with your assessment of the ESA -- that it needs to do much more as so many species are struggling to remain extant. An early criticism of this vital, important law, was, it preserves individual species but does conserve their habitats or the entire ecosystem.

Regardless, I pray Obama will not weaken it. Apparently, he is pushing for Bush's gutting this vital law. I just signed a petition, begging him not to destroy this national act, crafted to save our share of the Earth. We are living in an era of extinctions 1,000 times higher than normal!