Changes to Spotted Owl Plan May Be Guano-rific

A draft recovery plan for the Spotted Owl was released Thursday by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Although one of the plan's options would extend Clinton-era Northwest Forest Plan protections by designating new protected areas, the other would leave those decisions to Forest Service and BLM land managers.



This latter option has been decried by environmentalists as a way to weaken the Forest Plan and as a concession to timber industry. Depending on who you ask, I was either meddlesome political interference by the Bush administration with what was otherwise a harmonious and integrated process, or a way to allow for dynamic land management in the face of changing conditions.

On a side note, another provision of the plan calls for killing dozens of non-native barred owls to prevent competition with the spotted owls. The Humane Society's not too happy.

The plan is available for review from USFWS.

Comments will be accepted until June 25th. More info here.

There will also be a public meeting in Redding, California on May 23rd. More info at above links.