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California spotted owl denied endangered species protection
Associated Press
Published 1:24 p.m. PST Monday, February 10, 2003
SACRAMENTO -- The federal government decided Monday that the California spotted owl, a symbol in the battle over old-growth forests, does not need protection under the Endangered Species Act at this time.Environmental groups immediately said they will sue to overturn the ruling.
The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relies in part on owl protection plans in the Sierra Nevada Framework -- protection plans the U.S. Forest Service says will likely be substantially altered.
"The overall magnitude of current threats to the California spotted owl does not rise to a level requiring federal protection," the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded after a yearlong review, meeting a court-ordered decision date.
The medium-size brown mottled owl still exists in all or most of its historic range, from the Sierra Nevada and the central coastal range to the mountain ranges of Southern California. About 2,200 nesting sites or territories have been identified in recent surveys, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.
The closely related northern spotted owl, which became a symbol in the fight over logging in the Pacific Northwest a decade ago, already is listed as "threatened" under the act, as is the Mexican spotted owl. The California owl is recognized as a "sensitive" species by the Forest Service, and as a "species of special concern" by the state Department of Fish and Game.
But while some study areas showed population declines, "the service found no clear statistical evidence to show that the California spotted owl is declining throughout its range."
Steve Thompson, manager of the Fish and Wildlife Service's California-Nevada office in Sacramento, said the decision was based in part on the Clinton administration-approved Sierra Nevada Framework, as well as on commercial timber harvest plans that together would result in more owl habitat.
However, the service is "keenly aware" the framework is being reviewed by its counterpart federal agency at the Bush administration's direction, Thompson said.
"Because the outcome of these efforts could substantially affect California spotted owls, we will ... review the effects at a later date, if necessary," Thompson said.
More logging is needed, said Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes, because that allowed under the original framework doesn't do enough to protect the owl from catastrophic wildfires like the one near several Giant Sequoia National Monument groves that destroyed some owl nesting sites last year.
Forest Service officials met Monday with owl scientists and wildfire experts to review their proposed revisions, and will meet this week with Fish and Wildlife and other federal agency officials prior to coming up with a final proposal next month.
"Our goal is the same as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," Mathes said. "We want to keep the California spotted owl off the endangered species list. We've done it for 10 years and we want to see it continued."
Both Mathes and Thompson said there may be "difficult trade-offs" by doing short-term harm to some owl habitat to prevent wildfires that could wipe out that habitat in the long run.
Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said his organization will sue to overturn a finding he blamed on pressure from the Bush administration. The center, along with the Sierra Nevada Protection Campaign, had petitioned for the federal protection designation.
The finding not only ignores pending framework revisions, but plans by giant Sierra Pacific Industries to substantially clear-cut its property in the Sierra, Greenwald said. However, the Anderson, Calif.-based company has said its plans will protect the owl.
Greenwald also objected to Forest Service plans to experiment with the effects of logging in two Northern California forests, fire prevention efforts he said will endanger 176 owl sites.
"The Forest Service should take note that the framework is critical to the owl, and they should not dismantle it -- or they're looking at a future (Endangered Species Act) listing and the hammer will really drop," said Wilderness Society regional director Jay Watson.
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On the Net:
Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento: http://sacramento.fws.gov
Endangered Species program: http://endangered.fws.gov/
