Spotted Owl Caught in Middle of Battle for the Northwest’s Old Forests

The spotted owl, a feathery creature that spends most of its life perched quietly in remote forest areas, has innocently become the cause of the latest battle between environmentalists and the timber industry in the Northwest.

Standing only about a foot tall and covered with a spotted design of light and dark colored feathers, the spotted owl’s only “crime” is that it covets the same old-growth timber for use as its natural habitat that loggers want.

The loggers like old-growth timber because it’s of better quality--stronger and better looking--than younger trees, and with bigger old-growth stands, it does not take as many trees to get the same amount of finished lumber.

The U.S. Forest Service, which controls the vast majority of old-growth stands in the Northwest, has felt compelled to set aside more than 600,000 acres acres of prime forest land in Washington and Oregon for the spotted owl. The timber industry claims that the amount actually set aside for the spotted owl is 1.1 million acres.

Threatened Species

While the spotted owl is not on the national registry of endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a petition from an East Coast environmental group, Greenworld, for such a designation.

The bird--mainly found in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California--is on the threatened species list put together by the state governments of Washington and Oregon.

The Forest Service’s proposed spotted owl habitat represents 10% to 25% of remaining old-growth timber in the two Northwest states--too much, as far as the timber industry is concerned.

“We have continually seen our land base shrink and that’s what concerns us,” says Ted Ladoux of the Northwest Independent Forest Manufacturers.

More Than Just Jobs

“We’re not against the spotted owl,” says Ladoux. “All we’re after is a sustainable harvest--one that these guys (loggers) can depend on year after year after year. We just can’t passively sit by any longer and be nickeled and dimed to death.”

But environmentalists contend that the spotted owl habitat issue represents more than just jobs in an industry that was hard hit by high interest rates in the early part of the decade.

They explain that the spotted owl is an “indicator species” against which the old-growth habitat needs of dozens of wildlife species can be measured.

“We tend to forget about all the other species that depend on old-growth habitat,” says Chuck Sisco of the Audubon Society. “Somewhere between 45 and 50 species are really keyed in on old-growth timber, including the likes of elk and deer.”

Tracking the Owls

The Forest Service has identified 550 spotted owl habitat sites of 1,000 acres each in Washington and Oregon and has proposed adding roughly another 1,200 acres to each site, though this land would not be permanently preserved and could be logged at some future date.

One such habitat site is located on the Olympic National Forest near Quilcene. State game biologists have attached a radio transmitter to one of the spotted owls and regularly track it to determine its routine.

Like other spotted owls, this particular bird can usually be found perched high in a tree, huddled near the trunk. It’s brown color and quiet demeanor makes spotting difficult--both to humans and predators.

While Ladoux argues that 1,000 acres is more than sufficient for this and other spotted owls, Sisco maintains that research data gathered so far indicates that spotted owl pairs actually use between 10,000 and 12,000 acres for their entire home range, of which 2,200 to 4,500 acres is old-growth forest.

Preferred Nesting Area

“The owls use the old growth because that is their primary prey base,” Sisco said in reference to the flying squirrels the owls prefer to eat and that are found primarily in old-growth stands.

“They (the owls) also occupy the larger old growth for nesting. They’re cavity (trunk) nesters,” Sisco said.

One thing both sides of the spotted owl issue do agree on is the general lack of hard scientific data about the quiet bird, or how many there are. There is not even a good handle as to the number of Forest Service habitat sites actually occupied by spotted owls.

Those within the environmental camp believe as many as a third of the 550 sites are unoccupied.

Human Side Stressed

Within the timber industry, that alone is reason enough to avoid setting aside another 600,000 acres of old growth when some of it might not even be used by spotted owls.

“We’re talking about the human side of this thing, and in that respect it’s an emotional issue,” said Ladoux. “There is a real fear that if you try to reduce (timber) harvest levels, loggers just won’t be able to find another job.”

But Sisco and other environmentalists are more fearful that Forest Service harvest levels might eventually be increased to meet the growing demand for wood products--in light of some Forest Service projections that indicate a doubling in the demand for timber between now and the year 2030.