New Research Shows Spotted Owl Thrives, Timber Industry Says

Biologists hired by the Timber Assn. of California asserted Thursday that a new, though incomplete, survey of commercial forests indicates that northern spotted owls thrive in numbers far greater than reported by independent and government scientists.

The assertion came during a hearing on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to protect the owl under the Endangered Species Act--a move that could radically alter the future of the national forests in California, Oregon and Washington.

As thousands of loggers demonstrated outside the hearing, similar observations were related by U.S. Forest Service officials, who said that informal, interim protection now in effect does as much for owls as would formal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman David Klinger said a final decision on the owl is still many months away, but he discounted the importance of raw numbers of spotted owls.

“We’re also looking at habitat loss and destruction,” he said. “Numbers are one factor, of course, but we also have to look beyond that to judge their long-term viability.”

Wilderness Society representative Patricia Schifferle submitted written testimony citing numerous studies, including one this year by the U.S. Department of the Interior, that indicates the loss of old-growth forest results in fewer owl births and faster owl deaths.

“It has been found that owls using young-growth forests have a lower-than-average reproductive rate,” she wrote. “Therefore, one cannot assume that a given owl population concentrated in young-growth forests can maintain its viability.”

The heavily pro-industry tone of the hearing was set early in the day. More than a dozen nearby sawmills closed for the day, freeing about 3,000 workers to bring their families to a rally outside the hearing.

Many in attendance wore yellow T-shirts, caps and ribbons to show their support for industry. One woman sported a “Spotted Owl Hunting Club” cap.

Some also carried mock headstones to commemorate mills they said were forced to close because setting aside forests for the owl has been blamed for squeezing the region’s log supply. At the same time, however, dozens of fully loaded log trucks were parked hub-to-hub in the adjoining fairgrounds, their huge loads a silent testimony to the three consecutive years of record harvests in the Northwest.

Environmentalists, who were scarce, complained that the flood of paid mill workers was an attempt to “intimidate public witnesses.” The California Ancient Forest Alliance, in a written statement, urged another hearing on “neutral ground” so that “citizens throughout the state can be heard.”

At stake is not only the fate of the northern spotted owl but the future of the national forests as well.

“This is not a Northern California problem. It is a Los Angeles problem,” said Humboldt County Supervisor Anna Sparks. “If we cannot cut trees, we cannot supply lumber for homes.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came to Redding to gather comments on its proposal to protect the spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act. This, indirectly, will determine management practices for some of nation’s last and best old-growth, or virgin, forests not found in parks.

Most of the oral testimony opposed listing the owl.

“Given these (new) data, which are so conflicting with the foundation of the decision to list, we recommend that the Fish and Wildlife Service delay listing” pending further study, said industry biologist E. Linwood Smith, wearing a yellow ribbon that left no doubt about his sympathies.

Dan Tomascheski, vice president for resources at Sierra Pacific Industries and a sponsor of the survey, conceded that surveyors had time for only two of the six field visits required by the Forest Service’s standard scientific protocol, but nonetheless stood by its conclusion.

“We hope to do a more thorough job next year,” he testified.

The Redding hearing is the second of four planned for Oregon, California and Washington, the three leading timber states. Thoses states hold the nation’s old-growth timber at the heart of the fight.

The bulk of the research shows that northern spotted owls prefer living in virgin forests, which have a unique mix of tree species and ages that let the medium-size owls prey on voles, flying squirrels and other rodents without themselves becoming the prey of larger owls.

Northern spotted owls live only in the valuable Douglas fir, redwood and mixed conifer forests on the west side of the Cascade Mountains from the Canadian border to San Francisco Bay.

Most significant stands of privately owned old-growth timber were cut during the postwar building boom, leaving only publicly owned virgin forests to support the owl and other “old-growth dependent” species.

Vigorous harvesting of the national forests and plans for even more cutting in the future prompted concern over the bird’s fate. The Endangered Species Act forbids federal agencies to engage in acts that will drive any species into extinction.

Federal court orders enforcing this provision have tied up more than 25% of all federal timber sales in Oregon and Washington, leading mill owners to say they may soon be forced to close. California has not been as severely affected, but is just as vulnerable.

William Dennison of the Timber Assn. of California, an industry group, said that as much as 20% of California’s annual 4-billion-board-foot harvest could be lost if the owl joins the list of threatened species and large tracts of habitat are protected from logging.

Biologists, including a former Fish and Wildlife regional administrator who has studied the situation, deny this. They say the owl can be accommodated with minimal loss of timber lands, but some of the most valuable land may be put off limits.

The entire process is complicated by a lack of scientific study on the owl.

For example, no one knows how many owls exist or how much territory they need to survive.

And although it is known that these owls prefer virgin forests, no one can say with any certainty whether they might, if pressured, adapt to “second growth” forests that were planted to replace harvested old growth and thus assure timber supplies in the future.

These fundamental flaws in the data sent teams of scientists scurrying into the woods over the last three years. Some scientists, sponsored by industry, sought to demonstrate that the owls could and do thrive in second-growth timber. Other scientists, working for universities or environmental groups, are counting owl pairs and estimating the exclusive range required by each one. It will take years before all this data can be processed, published and verified.

Klinger said there are now so many researchers counting owls that the area is experiencing a shortage of the white laboratory mice used to lure owls into sight.