NATION : Cost of Saving Owl Decried
A broad plan to protect the threatened northern spotted owl could cost 102,757 jobs in the next 10 years in the timber-dependent Pacific Northwest, an industry-funded study said today.
The report said the associated loss of income would total $3.8 billion a year in Washington, Oregon and Northern California if the recovery plan is implemented on public and private lands.
The study, billed as an independent analysis by leading experts, was commissioned by the American Forest Resource Alliance, an industry group.
“This study shows that proposed federal plans to save the spotted owl are going to inflict more widespread damage and suffering in the region than anyone had expected,” Con Schallau, chief economist of the timber group, told a news conference.
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