Kill Owls To Save Owls

Spotted owls were disappearing because big bad timber companies were cutting down old-growth forests. So the environmental movement rushed to the forests, hugged the trees, and issued news releases to decry the evils of the logging industry. Save the owl. Save the trees. Kill the timber industry. As a result of the hysteria to save the ‘endangered’ owls, US timber sales were reduced drastically, forcing sawmills to close, loggers to go broke, and the literal disappearance of entire towns that depended on the industry, reports Tom DeWeese. (1)

Craig Welch adds, “A sweeping federal court ruling in 1991 closed much of the Northwest woods to logging. By the end of the century, timber harvest on 24 million acres of federal land had dropped 90 percent from its heyday. The spotted owl crystallized the power of the species-protection law. No threatened animal has done more to change how we use land. (2) Yet, after old-growth logging was banned on most federal lands to protect the owls, their numbers are vanishing faster than ever. The bird’s population continues to decline—a 40 percent slide in 25 years. (3) It turns out the habitat loss may no longer be the primary threat to spotted owls survival. There is a new wrinkle, the invasion of the larger, more aggressive barred owl into spotted owl territory. Barred owls are less selective about the habitat they use and the prey they feed upon and are out-competing northern spotted owls for habitat and food, causing the spotted owls decline. The barred owl either eats spotted owls or kicks them out of their habitat.

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Now, to save the imperiled spotted owl , the Obama administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to shoot barred owls. A plan announced last month would designate habitat considered critical for the birds’ survival, while allowing logging to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and to create jobs. (3) The plan to kill barred owls would not be the first time the federal government has authorized killing of one species to help another. California sea lions that feast on threatened salmon in the Columbia River have been killed in recent years after efforts to chase them away or scare them failed. In 2009, tens of thousands of fish were poisoned in an attempt to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. (4) The US Agriculture Department kills thousands of wild animals each year—mostly predators such as coyotes—to protect livestock. Other animals, including bears, wolves, and raccoons also are killed through the program. The latest plan for spotted owls was accompanied by a presidential memorandum directing Interior to take a number of steps before the plan is finalized, including providing clear direction for how logging can be conducted within areas designated as critical habitat and conducting an economic analysis at the same time critical habitat areas are proposed. (3) Officials acknowledge that the plan to kill owls creates an ethical dilemma, but in a preliminary test in Northern California, researchers shot seven barred owls near former spotted owl nesting sites. Spotted owls returned to all the sites. (5) So now to save the owls we have to shoot other owls after the timber industry has already been shot. Various officials stressed the new plan’s job-creation component, noting that for the first time logging would be allowed in areas designated as critical habitat for the owl even though previous plans had prohibited logging in areas designated as critical habitat. Ironic isn’t it? The timber industry was decimated because of the spotted owl and now that barred owls are causing a major problem with the spotted owls, the timber industry can go back to cutting. Small consolation after all the lost years. References

1. Tom DeWeese, “Timber companies exonerated, barred owls blamed for spotted owl decline,” Environment & Climate News, 10, 10, September 2007
2. Craig Welch, “The spotted owl’s new nemesis,” Smithsonian, 39, 62, January 2009
3. Jeff Barnard and Matthew Daly, “Obama plan for spotted owl targets rival bird,” timesunion.com, February 29, 2012
4. “Dire straits at Great Lakes,” New Scientist, 204, 6, December 2009
5. Warren Cornwall, “As spotted owl’s numbers keep falling, some fear it’s doomed,” The Seattle Times, August 13, 2008