Ashland, Ore. – Twenty years after the northern spotted owl became the prime symbol for endangered species and habitat protection, it’s back in the news and steeped in controversy. Read more…
The Bush administration proposed Tuesday to reduce by one-fifth the Pacific Northwest acreage protected as “critical habitat” for the spotted owl, arguing that the reductions will “maximize the efficiency” of blocks of land set aside for the imperiled bird. Read more…
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to remove the “critical habitat” designation from 1.5 million acres of Northwest forests now protected for the northern spotted owl, an action that could ease logging restrictions on those lands. Read more…
For the past year, Dominick DellaSala has been part of a 12-member team charged with creating a recovery plan for the northern spotted owl. Read more…
There they go again. In the latest example of their lapdog eagerness to ignore science and serve corporate interests, Bush administration officials have distorted critical recommendations on spotted owl protection. Read more…
The Bush administration has proposed a new way to help the threatened northern spotted owl: killing its principal rival for habitat. Read more…
A proposed new plan released Thursday to protect northern spotted owls includes changes urged by high-level officials in the Bush administration, leading environmentalists to charge that the administration is again threatening Northwest old-growth forests. Read more…
Forget logging and habitat loss, the biggest threat to the northern spotted owl is another owl, federal wildlife managers say. Read more…
(Editor’s note: This story has changed since it was originally published. The Secretary of the Interior is designated under the Endangered Species Act as responsible for managing the recovery of endangered species. The earlier version of the story attributed that responsibility to the Fish and Wildlife Service.) Read more…
Grim realities loom in the economy and ecology of our region. Libraries close. Congress cuts off generations-old timber funding to Western Oregon counties, leading some to threaten bankruptcy. County sheriff patrols grow thin. Unharvested forests grow thick with flammable understory, while scores of mills have closed. What goes on here? Read more…
