Northern spotted owl loses ground | The Oregonian

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Northern spotted owl loses ground
A review of the status of the endangered species says their numbers are shrinking, and one threat might be the barred owl

Wednesday, May 12, 2004
MICHAEL MILSTEIN

The northern spotted owl, whose protection under the Endangered Species Act since 1990 helped push federal lands logging to near collapse, is faring worse now than it was five years ago, a new assessment has found.

Spotted owl numbers have fallen by roughly half over the past decade in parts of Washington and Oregon's Warm Springs Reservation, and they have dwindled by nearly a quarter in sections of Oregon's coast and Cascade ranges. In only a few areas are the owls holding their own.

"Things are not getting better," said Eric Forsman, a research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station and an author of the new findings, the first in five years. "What's really dragging things down is what's happening in Washington."

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