OR Marks 20 Years of Spotted Owl Protection

Federal Endangered Species Act listing shifted forest management paradigm in Northwest.

Twenty years after the northern spotted owl was afforded heightened protection, questions remain about its future. In 1990, the bird was listed as a threatened species, a decision that has prompted major changes in Northwest timber management ever since.

But, are the birds doing any better? Experts say that depends on where you look. The spotted owl numbers are still on the decline, but not as much on federal land as on state and privately owned land. Dominick DellaSala, president and chief scientist for the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy, believes the spotted owl should be listed as endangered, rather than threatened, because its recovery has been so slow.

"I think we need to give it higher recognition when it comes to proposals to remove additional habitat, which occurs often on federal lands, but even more so on non-federal lands. And, we've got to protect the remaining mature and old-growth forests that this and hundreds of other species depend upon."

DellaSala thinks state and federal oversight of timber harvest and monitoring of habitat is inadequate.

In the 1990s, environmental activists chained themselves to trees, and loggers held mock funerals for the timber industry - but today, few hear much about the reasons for their protests. It could be a controversial position in some logging communities, but Doug Heiken, conservation and restoration coordinator for Oregon Wild, says the spotted owl debate was the start of a transformation for Oregon.

"The listing of the spotted owl helped right-size the timber industry and diversify the Northwest economy - and the current recession we're experiencing would have been much worse had the Northwest economy been more dependent on the timber industry than it has been."

Heiken is not surprised that the spotted owl's comeback is taking so long. He points out that some of the habitat that was destroyed took 200 years or more to grow and can't be restored in a couple of decades. And logging is not the only threat to spotted owls these days. The larger and more aggressive barred owl has migrated from the eastern United States to compete for turf with the spotted owl.