Imperiled Owl Report Changes Alleged

Fish and Wildlife Service officials, in an effort to keep the spotted owl off the endangered species list, ordered changes in a report that originally said the bird may face extinction, according to a General Accounting Office report released Tuesday.

The GAO, an arm of Congress, said officials ignored scientific evidence and ordered revisions in a study prepared by biologists in the agency’s Northwest regional office. Scientists had concluded that unless logging was slowed in old-growth forests of the Northwest, the owl could face extinction.

The timber industry has opposed any effort to name the owl a threatened or endangered species, fearing that such a move would disrupt logging in public forests.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, an Interior Department agency that determines what should be designated for protection as threatened or endangered, is required to consider only “biological factors” in making its decision. The service concluded that the owl, which lives only in old-growth forests in Oregon, Washington and Northern California, was not endangered, and refused to grant a petition by environmentalists requesting that the bird be protected.