I have to type these because the paper is not on line. I'll have to do his first article too.
Feds plan to kill thousands of barred owls to save spotted owls
By Buddy Rose and printed in the East County Journal on February 3, 2011
Note: This is my second Op-Ed column in a series on issues related to the management of national forests in the Pacific Northwest.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USWS) officials are devising a plan to kill thousands of barred owls in the national forests of the Pacific Northwest in an attempt to save northern spotted owls. That unprecedented effort is a desperate measure intended to stem the continuing decline of spotted owls, years after the Northwest Forest Plan (NFP) was implemented to save the birds. The influx of barred owls--a species not native to the northwest--is thought to be a major factor in the ongoing spotted owl population decline.
According to the most recent revision of the USFWS recovery plan for spotted owls--released to the public last fall--the owl population in the northwest has continued to decline since 1994, when the NFP virtually stopped the harvest of timber in national forests. Given the apparent failure of the primary purpose of the NFP--to save spotted owls--it is possible the resulting loss of thousands of jobs and accompanying social upheaval within dozens of small timber-dependent communities in the northwest may have been in vain.
According to USFWS, spotted owl populations are declining steadily at a rate of 3 percent per year throughout their range. In Washington state, the population is declining at about 7 percent per year, with Oregon’s owl population declining at a lesser rate. It had been anticipated that the NFP’s stopping the harvest of old growth would stabilize spotted owl populations within national forests over time. Now it appears that will not happen.
Barred owls were originally found in the eastern U.S> but have been increasingly migrating westward for many decades. They are slightly larger but closely related to spotted owls and utilize much of the same habitat types and food sources. Barred owls are considered to be more of a generalist than spotted owls, living in more types of habitats and feeding on more types of prey Then need much smaller home ranges than spotted owls, probably due to their diverse food habits.
Barred owls also appear to nest more often, produce more young per nesting attempt nd have lower mortality rates than their spotted owl cousins. Although it is not thought to be a common occurrence, there have been several confirmed hybrids between barred owls and spotted owls. Direct competition between the two species for food and space, however, is considered much more of a threat to spotted owl survival that hybridization.
The plan for “removing” barred owls is being analyzed in a USFWS document titled, “Environmental Impact Statement Related to Experimental Removal of Barred Owls for the
Conservation Benefit of Threatened Northern Spotted Owls.” Documentation began in late 2009 with a notice in the Federal Register of USFWS’ intent to prepare the plan. A formal decision on the plan is expected soon.
According to Kent Livezey, a USFWS authority on barred and spotted owls, the three to 10 yea experiment would result in between 2,150 and 4,650 barred owls being killed anywhere they occur in significant numbers. Killing would most likely be done with shotguns, an approach used previously in California to kill 40 barred owls for two small-scale “studies”.
Livezey estimates the initial cost of the experimental cost of the experimental kill of barred owls to be about $1 million per year. That amounts to about $700 per bird killed during the first year of the study and $2,800 per bird for subsequent years. An additional challenge in a barred owl removal study, cautions Livezey, is removing widely dispersed owls in large forested areas, especially if they evade humans to avoid being shot.
Livesey also points out that a typical study would kill barred owls in only about 2.3 percent of the range of the northern spotted owl. If USFWS determines killing barred owls might help save the spotted owl, it would result in far more than several thousand barred owls being killed and cost far more than $1 million annually.
Killing one raptor (bird of prey) to save another is very rare worldwide, notes Livesey. If the precedent setting study is implemented, 36 times more raptors would be killed during its first year than in all previous conservation-based projects combined in the U.S. and its territories.
It’s quite possible he northern spotted owl is doomed to extinction regardless of all efforts to save them. Or, more likely, their range in the future will be smaller. It can be argued their demise is the result of ongoing evolution of species as easily as putting all blame on past activities of man. Climate change could also play a part in the eventual outcome.
What is abundantly clear to me is that contemplating a program to kill most or all barred owls in a very large area to save spotted owls is highly questionable. And since barred owls are almost certain to continue to migrate into the area, it seems likely their extermination would need to continue many years into the future to be successful. I can’t imagine the public going along with that.
It is also becoming apparent the severe limitations imposed by the NFP on timber harvest and other activities in national forests amounted to environmental extremism and were unnecessary. More reasonable protection measures, such as those of the Washington State Forest Practices Act would provide ample protection for forest resources while maintaining a viable timber industry related to national forests in the Pacific northwest. It’s time we revised the Northwest Forest Plan to include social and economic vales in equality with environmental values.
Feds plan to kill thousands of barred owls to save spotted owls
By Buddy Rose and printed in the East County Journal on February 3, 2011
Note: This is my second Op-Ed column in a series on issues related to the management of national forests in the Pacific Northwest.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USWS) officials are devising a plan to kill thousands of barred owls in the national forests of the Pacific Northwest in an attempt to save northern spotted owls. That unprecedented effort is a desperate measure intended to stem the continuing decline of spotted owls, years after the Northwest Forest Plan (NFP) was implemented to save the birds. The influx of barred owls--a species not native to the northwest--is thought to be a major factor in the ongoing spotted owl population decline.
According to the most recent revision of the USFWS recovery plan for spotted owls--released to the public last fall--the owl population in the northwest has continued to decline since 1994, when the NFP virtually stopped the harvest of timber in national forests. Given the apparent failure of the primary purpose of the NFP--to save spotted owls--it is possible the resulting loss of thousands of jobs and accompanying social upheaval within dozens of small timber-dependent communities in the northwest may have been in vain.
According to USFWS, spotted owl populations are declining steadily at a rate of 3 percent per year throughout their range. In Washington state, the population is declining at about 7 percent per year, with Oregon’s owl population declining at a lesser rate. It had been anticipated that the NFP’s stopping the harvest of old growth would stabilize spotted owl populations within national forests over time. Now it appears that will not happen.
Barred owls were originally found in the eastern U.S> but have been increasingly migrating westward for many decades. They are slightly larger but closely related to spotted owls and utilize much of the same habitat types and food sources. Barred owls are considered to be more of a generalist than spotted owls, living in more types of habitats and feeding on more types of prey Then need much smaller home ranges than spotted owls, probably due to their diverse food habits.
Barred owls also appear to nest more often, produce more young per nesting attempt nd have lower mortality rates than their spotted owl cousins. Although it is not thought to be a common occurrence, there have been several confirmed hybrids between barred owls and spotted owls. Direct competition between the two species for food and space, however, is considered much more of a threat to spotted owl survival that hybridization.
The plan for “removing” barred owls is being analyzed in a USFWS document titled, “Environmental Impact Statement Related to Experimental Removal of Barred Owls for the
Conservation Benefit of Threatened Northern Spotted Owls.” Documentation began in late 2009 with a notice in the Federal Register of USFWS’ intent to prepare the plan. A formal decision on the plan is expected soon.
According to Kent Livezey, a USFWS authority on barred and spotted owls, the three to 10 yea experiment would result in between 2,150 and 4,650 barred owls being killed anywhere they occur in significant numbers. Killing would most likely be done with shotguns, an approach used previously in California to kill 40 barred owls for two small-scale “studies”.
Livezey estimates the initial cost of the experimental cost of the experimental kill of barred owls to be about $1 million per year. That amounts to about $700 per bird killed during the first year of the study and $2,800 per bird for subsequent years. An additional challenge in a barred owl removal study, cautions Livezey, is removing widely dispersed owls in large forested areas, especially if they evade humans to avoid being shot.
Livesey also points out that a typical study would kill barred owls in only about 2.3 percent of the range of the northern spotted owl. If USFWS determines killing barred owls might help save the spotted owl, it would result in far more than several thousand barred owls being killed and cost far more than $1 million annually.
Killing one raptor (bird of prey) to save another is very rare worldwide, notes Livesey. If the precedent setting study is implemented, 36 times more raptors would be killed during its first year than in all previous conservation-based projects combined in the U.S. and its territories.
It’s quite possible he northern spotted owl is doomed to extinction regardless of all efforts to save them. Or, more likely, their range in the future will be smaller. It can be argued their demise is the result of ongoing evolution of species as easily as putting all blame on past activities of man. Climate change could also play a part in the eventual outcome.
What is abundantly clear to me is that contemplating a program to kill most or all barred owls in a very large area to save spotted owls is highly questionable. And since barred owls are almost certain to continue to migrate into the area, it seems likely their extermination would need to continue many years into the future to be successful. I can’t imagine the public going along with that.
It is also becoming apparent the severe limitations imposed by the NFP on timber harvest and other activities in national forests amounted to environmental extremism and were unnecessary. More reasonable protection measures, such as those of the Washington State Forest Practices Act would provide ample protection for forest resources while maintaining a viable timber industry related to national forests in the Pacific northwest. It’s time we revised the Northwest Forest Plan to include social and economic vales in equality with environmental values.
