Barred Owls are now competing with
Northern Spotted Owls for food and space, and increased Barred Owl densities are associated with declines in
Northern Spotted Owl populations across their range," explained Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit's co-author of the study, Katie Dugger.
Density of
Northern Spotted Owls in northwest California.
The
northern spotted owl was listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) on June 26, 1990.
Scientific evaluation of the status of the
Northern Spotted Owl. Sustainable Ecosystems Institute, Portland, Oregon.
Further north in Oregon and Washington, however, the goal might be to manage them to sustain surviving populations of both
northern spotted owls and barred owls.
Explain why scientists feel that barred owls are responsible for the decline of the
northern spotted owl in Washington State.
Even before district court judges held hearings to establish some basic facts about the owl, one appellate panel pronounced that "[i]t was and is no secret that the
northern spotted owl disappears when its habitat is destroyed by logging." (6) Over the course of five years of litigation, from 1987 into 1992, the Ninth Circuit successfully resisted congressional, presidential, and even Supreme Court attempts to gain control of federal land management in the Pacific Northwest.
"The Center is relying on two things to be able to keep pushing this hard-nosed ESA agenda," says Patrick Parenteau, who teaches at Vermont School of Law and in the late 1980s was hired by the FWS to defend the
Northern spotted owl from attacks by the first Bush Administration.
In addition to providing shelter, the treetop vantage points led the activists to discover nests of the red tree vole, a favorite food of the threatened
northern spotted owl. After the find was confirmed by federal biologists, 51 of the site's 96 acres were closed to logging--and further nests located by the treesitters may spare the remainder.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages nearly 1.6 million acres (650,000 hectares) of forest land in Washington within the range of the
northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina).
According to genetic evidence, Haig says, the
northern spotted owl and its California cousins don't meet Moritz's criterion for a full ESU.
A
northern spotted owl swoops out of the treetops at twilight in an Oregon forest.