Trump administration slashes imperiled spotted owls' habitat

Trump administration said Wednesday that it would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for imperiled rrn spotted owl in Oregon, Washington state and rrn California, much of it in prime timber locations in Oregon’s coastal ranges.

Environmentalists immediately decried move and accused U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Donald Trump of taking a parting shot at protections designed to help restore species in favor of timber industry. tiny owl is listed as threatened under Endangered Species Act and was rejected for an upgrade to endangered status last year by federal ncy despite losing nearly 4% of its population annually.

“This revision guts protected habitat for rrn spotted owl by more than a third. It’s Trump’s latest parting gift to timber industry and ar blow to a species that needs all protections it can get to fully recover,” said ah Greenwald, endangered species director for Center for Biological Diversity.

Timber groups applauded decision, which won’t take effect for 60 days. More thinning and manment of protected forests is necessary to prevent wildfires, which devastated about 300 acres (121 hectares) of spotted owl habitat last fall, said Travis Joseph, president of American Forest Resources Council.

Loss of ability to log in areas protected for spotted owl has devastated rural communities, he said. 3.4 million acres (1.4 million hectares) removed from federal protections Wednesday includes all of Oregon’s so-called O&C lands, which are big timber territory. more than 2 million acres (809,000 hectares) are spread in a checkerboard pattern over 18 counties in western Oregon.

“This rule rights a wrong imposed on rural communities and businesses and gives us a chance to restore balance to federal forest manment and species conservation in Pacific rthwest,” Joseph said.

Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in a settlement with timber industry to reevaluate spotted owls’ protected territory following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a different federally protected species.

Trump administration has moved to roll back protections for waterways and wetlands, narrow protections for wildlife facing extinction and open more public land to oil and gas drilling.

But for decades, federal government has been trying to save rrn spotted owl, a native bird that sparked an intense battle over logging across Washington, Oregon and California.

dark-eyed owl prefers to nest in old-growth forests and received federal protections in 1990, a listing that dramatically redrew ecomic landscape for Pacific rthwest timber industry and launched a decadeslong battle between environmentalists and loggers. Old-growth Douglas firs, many 100 to 200 years old, that are preferred by owl are also of great value to loggers.

After owl was listed as threatened under Endangered Species Act, earning it a Time magazine cover, U.S. officials halted logging on millions of acres of old-growth forests on federal lands to protect bird’s habitat. But population kept declining, and it faces ar threat: competition from barred owl.

Fish and Wildlife Service has since said rrn spotted owl warrants being moved up to more robust “endangered” status because of continued population declines. But ncy refused to do so last year, saying or species took higher priority. That decision is facing a legal challenge led by Center for Biological Diversity.