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Help the Spotted Owl and Northwest Forests
In America's Pacific Northwest one will find ancient trees, cascading rivers, spotted owls and salmon. The forests were once plentiful but for decades were used for a single short-sighted purpose: to provide timber for lumber mills. Wildlife habitat and clean water were at risk.
In 1994 the Northwest Forest Plan was created to manage these forests using a scientifically credible and sustainable stewardship plan. The Bush Administration is now attempting to revise the Plan to undermine key wildlife protections, including habitat reserves for the northern spotted owl and other at-risk species.
Help us tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that this plan should include sound research findings and proper scientific methods, with major input from recognized owl experts, to ensure that protections for rare old-growth forests - and the valuable species that live there - remain intact.
Please edit our letter below to reflect your views, then click on "Send this Message" to help us ensure that old-growth ecosystems remain undamaged under a new forest plan.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Redraft a Recovery Plan for the Spotted Owl based on proper science
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
The Northwest's rare old-growth forests provide numerous benefits to all of us. With nearly all of these ancient forests found on public National Forest land, the public has an obligation to see that they are managed responsibly. It is a bad sign that the Northern Spotted Owl, an indicator species of good old-growth ecosystem health in the Northwest, has been in decline for many years.
We need to do more, not less, to protect the tenuous existence of the Spotted Owl. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recent Draft Recovery Plan is hopelessly insufficient in this regard.
In particular, the plan decreases habitat range and makes it vulnerable to further decreases at the discretion of forest managers. Given that Spotted Owl populations are still decreasing, protected old-growth habitat should contain at least as much acreage as provided for in the Northwest Forest Plan. Secondly, it is problematic to let the boundaries of the protected forest lands be redrawn without adequate regulatory assurances or oversight. Lastly, habitat protections should not be diminished based on the Recovery Plan's assertion that Barred Owls pose a greater threat to Spotted Owls than timber harvesting does.
The primary authors of a recovery plan of this nature should be independent scientists. I am concerned that high-ranking government officials imposed inappropriate guidelines on the drafters of the plan, biasing it towards decreasing protected habitat range, when science suggests an increase.
I reject both options of the Draft Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl, and urge the Recovery Team to author a plan based on solid science. We need a strategy which adequately addresses the needs of Spotted Owls and their old-growth habitat.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
August 09, 2007
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The Northern Spotted Owl was placed on the endangered species list in 1990. Because the Spotted Owl thrives in old-growth forests, its prevalence is an indicator of our healthy ancient forest ecosystems. Since 1992, owl habitat has been protected from major threats like commercial logging under the Northwest Forest Plan.
In April 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assembled a team to develop an updated action plan, which would identify measurable strides in the owls' recovery. The team, composed of state and federal land managers, timber representatives and conservationists, drafted a workable strategy that protected this important owl habitat in a network of old-growth forest reserves.
Their sound strategy was subsequently rejected by a Washington D.C. oversight committee, that recommended habitat protection be "de-emphasized" in a new version of the Draft Recovery Plan.
Now, the Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl leaves rare old-growth forests and the hundreds of species that live there vulnerable to destruction. Meanwhile, the owl's numbers continue to decline, particularly in Washington State where populations have declined 7% annually since 1990.
A strong strategy is needed to recover the Spotted Owl from the danger of extinction. It should be a plan based on the best and most recent research available. It should incorporate recommendations and directives from independent owl experts and other scientists who will measure Spotted Owl recovery and their habitat's health in an unbiased manner.
The newly released Draft Recovery Plan does not accomplish this. Instead of relying on science for its recommendations, it rests on demands from unknown officials in Washington, D.C. who intentionally ignored the well-known connection between old-growth forest habitat and the Spotted Owl's survival.
The Draft Recovery Plan proposes to roll back more than a decade of protections on the forests Spotted Owls depend on for survival. One aspect of the Plan gives land managers the flexibility to reduce protected habitat range by 25%! It makes no sense to reduce protections on habitat when the species is still declining.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to develop a plan based on scientific research, without political interference. Our old-growth ecosystems are rare treasures deserving of consideration and protection. Please submit your comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and tell them that you oppose their unscientific plan.
For more information, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Spotted Owl page.
Take a look at Recovery Team participant Dominick DellaSala's critique of the Draft Recovery Plan (PDF).
The New York Times recently published an article criticizing the Bush Administration's interference in the Recovery Plan process.
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