[bcbirdclub] Fw: Feds consider killing Barred Owls to save Spotted Owls
- From: "Roger Mayhorn" <rmayhorn@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BCBC Listserve" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 10:51:16 -0500
I found this article on another listserv. I find it interesting and probably
controversial.
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
Subject: Feds consider killing Barred Owls to save Spotted Owls
A large owl from the eastern United States may pay for its intrusion into the
West Coast if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has its way.
The service is considering an experiment in which it would kill or transfer
some barred owls - sometimes referred to as the hoot owl, thanks to its call -
as part of a plan to preserve the smaller northern spotted owl, the agency said
in a report this week.
The U.S. government has listed the northern spotted owl, whose range includes
British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California, as a threatened species
since 1990. Its population declined by 40% in the last 25 years, not only
because of shrinking habitat, but also because the barred owl moved into the
area starting in the late 1950s, the service says.
"Larger, more aggressive and more adaptable than the northern spotted owl,
barred owls are known to displace spotted owls, disrupt their nesting and
compete with them for food," the service says on the Interior Department's
website. "Researchers have also observed instances of barred owls interbreeding
with or killing spotted owls."
The service is now proposing killing or capturing barred owls in limited areas
of the other owl's range to see whether the removals allow the other owl's
population to bounce back.
The service is calling for one to 11 experiment sites in areas including
national parks and recreation areas. Depending on the number of sites, the
service would kill or transfer 257 to nearly 8,960 barred owls, according to
the service's environmental impact statement on the plan.
The larger figure represents 0.2% percent of the barred owl's North American
population, and 6.5% of its population in the northern spotted owl's range,
according to the service.
Killing the barred owls would involve attracting them with recorded calls and
shooting those that respond. Capturing them alive would involve calling them
and then collecting them with nets or other trapping devices, the service says.
Captured owls would be released elsewhere or live out their lives in captivity.
The service has yet to determine what lethal/nonlethal mix to use.
"We can't ignore the mounting evidence that competition from barred owls is a
major factor in the spotted owl's decline, and we have a clear obligation to do
all we can to prevent the spotted owl's extinction and help it rebound," Fish
and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said Tuesday in a news release.
If the experiment goes forward and works, the service would propose a
wider-scale barred owl removal program in the northern spotted owl's range,
with the ultimate goal of getting the populations to the point where they can
co-exist.
The Seattle Audubon Society was among the groups that consulted with the Fish
and Wildlife Service before it made its proposal. Shawn Cantrell, the Seattle
society's executive director, said he has yet to read all of the service's
roughly 400-page environmental impact statement, but would generally be in
favor of a small-scale removal experiment, provided that it be designed to
answer questions like: How many would you have to remove to help the spotted
owl, and for how long, and in how many locations? And how soon would barred
owls return to those areas?
"The barred owl has grown as a challenge in the last decade, so we need to
figure out what is the level of challenge that the barred owl poses, and what
are the appropriate actions we might take concurrent with other things, such as
restoring the habitat of the northern spotted owls," Cantrell said on Wednesday.
He said he wouldn't be in favor of a larger removal program, at least not until
an experiment answered those questions. He also said he believes loss of the
northern spotted owls' habitat through logging is a bigger reason the species
isn't faring well.
"You can't use the barred owl as a scapegoat," Cantrell said, adding that the
Seattle Audubon Society would comment further on the experiment plan once the
group reads the whole environmental impact statement.
Both the experiment and the wider program would require separate public review
processes. The service is accepting public comment on the experiment plan for
90 days, and a decision is expected later this year.
If the experiment happens, it could start next year and last for three to 10
years, the service says.
The barred owl is in the "least concern" category of the International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Red List of Threatened
Species.
Separately, the service on Tuesday proposed new rules and maps for "critical
habitat" areas for the northern spotted owl. The proposal, which identifies 10
million acres where protection rules would apply on federal land or nonfederal
land that gets federal funding or permitting, will be subject to public review
before a final decision in November.
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