U.S. Declares Northern Owl Threatened Species : Move Makes Harming Forest Habitat Illegal; Protection Plan Delayed Over Logging Jobs

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today declared the rare northern spotted owl to be a threatened species, but held up a specific plan for protection out of concern for thousands of logging jobs in the Northwest.

“The biological evidence says the northern spotted owl is in trouble,” John Turner, head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in announcing the owl will be protected under the Endangered Species Act effective July 23. “We will not and cannot by law ignore that decision.”

Designation as a threatened species would make it illegal to harm any of the owls or destroy their critical habitat without federal government approval.

An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pairs of spotted owl survive in the ancient forests of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. An Interior Department study has estimated that protecting the owl would curtail logging over millions of acres and cost as many as 28,000 logging jobs over the next decade.

“I strongly believe there is room in the world for both owls and loggers,” Turner told reporters.

“Our intent now in the Fish and Wildlife Service and throughout the Administration is to find a way to protect the owl with the least possible disruption of the timber economy of the Northwest,” Turner said.

Turner said it was a “difficult and painful decision both for the agency and me personally.”

“We remain convinced the Northwest can accommodate both logging and owls,” Ralph Morgenweck of the Fish and Wildlife Service told members of Congress earlier.

The formal protection plan will not be released until next week.

“This issue is so complex, it involves such a vast area that the consequences could be harsh. . . . Therefore this decision (on a management plan) couldn’t be made without taking into consideration its impact,” Interior spokesman Mark Stephenson said.

A committee led by Forest Service biologist Jack Ward Thomas announced in April that the northern spotted owl has lost about two-thirds of its habitat since 1800. The panel recommended more than 3 million acres of previously unprotected forests--an area nearly as large as Connecticut--be set aside to preserve owl habitat.

The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 and has been used to provide protection to the bald eagle and grizzly bear, among other animals.

Under the law, a designation of a threatened species means it is likely to become extinct without protection, whereas extinction is viewed as a certainty for an endangered species.