Court Bars Logging Pending Studies of Owl Habitat

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday ordered the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to perform additional environmental studies before allowing any more logging on land that is home to the northern spotted owl.

The dual decision affects millions of acres of old-growth forest and spotted owl habitat in Oregon and Washington, according to Michael Axline, an attorney for the Oregon Natural Resources Council and the Lane County Audubon Society.

“These are very important rulings in ensuring that the forests of the Pacific Northwest receive all the protection that the environmental laws afford them,” said Todd True, staff attorney for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund.

But a representative of a logging group said the court’s decision is meaningless, coming a week after President Clinton announced his forest plan. The Clinton plan would impose a nearly three-fourths reduction in the amount of timber cut on federal lands.

The foot-long northern spotted owl has been at the center of controversy over Pacific Northwest old-growth forests for years because it is considered an indicator of the health of the entire forest ecosystem. Environmentalists say that logging robs the species of the unique habitat that it needs to survive.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the owl threatened in June, 1990. An estimated 3,500 pairs remain in Oregon, Washington and Northern California.