DECLINING 10% PER YEAR
The Northern Spotted Owl may have won the battle in 1990, but it appears they have lost the war.
In 1990, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Northern Spotted Owl as a threatened species and limited the legal sale of timber from the areas where the owls usually make their nests. Because the trees in this area are worth $1 million, this has created conflict between the timber industry representatives who want to harvest the valuable timber and protect jobs and conservationists who want to protect old-growth forests. In 1994, the Clinton administration put 80% of the federal forests from Washington to California off limits to logging.
The Northern Spotted Owl is a big problem to people who need trees cut down, especially old trees, because it doesn't breed in forest areas that have been cut and cleared of trees. In order to breed and raise its young, the spotted owl needs 100 acres of old-growth forest suchs redwoods, Douglas firs, spruce and hemlock trees.
Do we need species this self-absorbed?
The problem may be that it was too already to late. These picky birds seem to be succumbing to competition, forest fires and West Nile Virus, at least partly because their nunbers are so low.
