A California Spotted Owl: Danny Hofstadter

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The endangered California spotted owl has long been a symbol in the battle between preserving the environment and allowing the cutting of trees in the American West, a political football between those who want to protect the environment for wildlife and those who believe private profits for people are more important.

Bullied by President Donald Trump whose administration was anti-science and against protecting the environment and in favor of private profits, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a report in 2020 indicating that the declining population of spotted owls “warranted” endangered status under the Endangered Species Act. But the federal agency chose not to reclassify the owls as endangered citing limited resources and species with a higher priority.

Environmental groups sued in federal court, saying the Trump administration’s decision did not square with the science. They won a victory this week, reaching a settlement giving the Fish and Wildlife Service until Feb. 25, 2023, to conduct a new review of the population’s status.

“We’re pleased that the court has required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reassess the status of the critically imperiled California spotted owl,” Pamela Flick, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement responding to the settlement agreement. “Time and again, scientific analyses clearly indicate that this species is at risk of continued population declines from myriad threats and warrants immediate protections.”

According to a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the lawsuit along with other groups, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s own research “confirmed dramatic population declines in four out of five study areas and found that the owls face increasing threats.”

Habitat loss from logging, climate change and the insurgence of invasive species have placed the spotted owls under the looming threat of extinction.

Documents in the case show that government biologists repeatedly warned Trump-appointed officials at the Department of the Interior and Fish and Wildlife that a decision to lift protections on over 3.5 million acres of spotted owl habitat risked the species’ eventual extinction.

The Trump administration cited the economic devastation on logging communities as the rationale for lifting the protections.

The Biden administration reversed the Trump policy last month, lifting the habitat protections on just over 200,000 acres in southwest Oregon. Though disappointed that some of the habitat would be opened for more commercial logging, environmental groups voiced relief and hope that this administration might be more receptive than the Trump White House to their entreaties for the spotted owls.

Though the groups similarly voiced encouragement at the agreement to conduct another Endangered Species Act review, another review does not guarantee that the species will be reclassified.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s own assessments show that California spotted owls should have been protected years ago,” Justin Augustine, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “These owls face dire threats, so we hope the Service will finally do the right thing and give them the Endangered Species Act protection they deserve and need.”

The suit was filed in San Francisco by Sierra Forest Legacy, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife, a coalition represented by Earthjustice.

The California subspecies of spotted owls lives in mature forest in the Sierra Nevada and in the mountains of coastal and Southern California. Its habitat is under serious threat from current logging practices and climate change impacts, including increased drought, disease and uncharacteristically large, severe wildfires.

“Protecting the owl will help ensure that remaining mature forests and large trees that are the most resilient to fire are protected,” said Susan Britting, executive director of Sierra Forest Legacy. “Saving owls will also help safeguard people because actions like prescribed fire not only benefit owls but also help protect communities from wildfire.”

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