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i don't know about this. i'd be very concerned that people will just blast any owl they see, not just barred owls.
poor owls.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants more than 500,000 barred owls to be shot dead in a cull to help protect other native species.
Barred owls are an invasive species in the Pacific Northwest, originating on the U.S. East Coast, and they pose a huge threat to native protected species, including northern spotted owls.
As part of a draft management plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wants to cull these invasive owls, and hopes to shoot half a million of them over the next 30 years.
I was involved in the USFWS' northern spotted owl T&E listing, critical habitat designation, and recovery planning efforts years ago. Yes, barred owls were starting to pose a problem for their more retiring relative at that time and it has gotten worse, but at that time the more critical threat was loss of habitat to logging and logging infrastructure. Management and recovery efforts understandably focused there. Barred owl immigration not so much.
Barred owls pose a threat not just because they can outcompete but because they can interbreed with spotteds and erode the genetic entity that is a northern spotted owl. Of course, some would say that may be a good thing...evolution in action that produces a stronger more successful bird going forward. Sometimes it doesn't benefit anyone to resist naturally occurring change. Trying to preserve a tiny, doomed relict population of something may never be possible.
IMHO the most important thing to do to recover just about any declining species is to preserve or create more of its most critical habitat through management and to reduce accidental losses of breeding age individuals. Then leave them in peace to take advantage of it as much as they can. You can pump out as many new young of the creature as you want (by improving survival of young, producing young artificially, keeping breeders safe in captivity, etc.) but if there's no place for them to go, and the threats that continue to kill off individuals of the species still exist outside existing habitat, just what did you gain? Not much.
There are many species that became endangered because of more successful and aggressive intrusive competitors. The spotted owl isn't unique in that regard. Controlling an invader's numbers can certainly help, but many times that's just putting a finger in a leaky dam. It does nothing to control the ocean on the other side that's eating away at the dam as a whole. I think culling barred owls might be a carefully applied stop gap measure under specific circumstances to give an isolated population of spotted owls a leg up at a critical moment, but it certainly wouldn't solve the much larger problem. You can't fence out all the barred owls expanding across the US.
Just like any other management plan, recovery plans need updating and refocusing as goals are achieved or new data about successes and failures is generated. It is possible that the real goal of this proposal is to establish the administrative pathway making small local eradications happen more quickly and authorize it for more than one management agency. Barred owls are protected under the MBTA and other wildlife law. There are mechanisms that can authorize culling of protected flocking birds to protect agriculture (starlings, blackbirds, pigeons, gulls) on the books and carried out by the USDA/APHIS, but controlling one raptor in favor of another is quite unusual. Realistically, practically, and legislatively, maybe the real result here would be to create one more tool for the management toolbox.
Last edited by Parnassia; 12-11-2023 at 04:56 PM..
They migrated there naturally, so I'm not even sure I'd call them an "invasive species." Tough call.
I've got a Barrel owl who lives in my neighborhood. Hear it once in a while and have seen it in my front yard.
They didn't "migrate" at all (wrong word), but the evidence suggests they expanded their range in response to landscape alterations like tree plantings in the Great Plains, and large-scale logging in the mountains.
This sort of proposal has been discussed for (at least) 30 years. By limiting the areas open to hunting, they can largely avoid accidental take of spotties. But I would worry that other owls will also be taken by yayhoos who just want to kill owls
They didn't "migrate" at all (wrong word), but the evidence suggests they expanded their range in response to landscape alterations like tree plantings in the Great Plains, and large-scale logging in the mountains.
This sort of proposal has been discussed for (at least) 30 years. By limiting the areas open to hunting, they can largely avoid accidental take of spotties. But I would worry that other owls will also be taken by yayhoos who just want to kill owls
As incompetent as the USFWS is, they are NOT going to allow "vayhoos" to shoot barred owls. Those will be under highly controlled conditions. I suspect by government employees, that will be doing the killing.
When I working for the Forest Service, we pretty much knew where EVERY spotted owl was located. I am sure that today, that is still true and if not, it would not take long to find the remaining few owls on public land.
Large-scale logging had little to do with the decline of the northern spotted owl in my humble opinion. Bad science, and the desire of the environmental community to eliminate logging on public lands resulted in the spotted owl being a used to meet that objective.
The spotted owl populations in eastern Washington and northern California were reproducing well, but had high mortality due to maxed out habitat. That habitat in eastern Washington and northern California was all second and third growth forests.
The thought that spotted owls needed owl growth came from the fact that the original science was done in those stands. I still believe that old growth habitat is SECONDARY, MARGINAL habitat for spotted owls. Old growth does not have the prey base to support healthy spotted owl populations.
In the end, it didn't matter because the objective was to destroy the timber industry that was dependent on public timber.
Once the environmentalists achieved that objective they lost all interest in saving the spotted owl.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parnassia
I was involved in the USFWS' northern spotted owl T&E listing, critical habitat designation, and recovery planning efforts years ago. Yes, barred owls were starting to pose a problem for their more retiring relative at that time and it has gotten worse, but at that time the more critical threat was loss of habitat to logging and logging infrastructure. Management and recovery efforts understandably focused there. Barred owl immigration not so much..............................
........................Just like any other management plan, recovery plans need updating and refocusing as goals are achieved or new data about successes and failures is generated. It is possible that the real goal of this proposal is to establish the administrative pathway making small local eradications happen more quickly and authorize it for more than one management agency. Barred owls are protected under the MBTA and other wildlife law. There are mechanisms that can authorize culling of protected flocking birds to protect agriculture (starlings, blackbirds, pigeons, gulls) on the books and carried out by the USDA/APHIS, but controlling one raptor in favor of another is quite unusual. Realistically, practically, and legislatively, maybe the real result here would be to create one more tool for the management toolbox.
So was I.
The National Forest I worked for actually got together a group of spotted owl scientists in 1993 to tell the Gang of Four that Clinton's Forest Plan was going to lead to the extinction of the spotted owl. We wrote a 100 page document summarizing the science of spotted owl management on the east slope of the Cascades.
It was ignored.
In our case, we identified the primary threat to spotted owls as wildfires and the Barred Owl. Remember that was in 1993. The Gang of Four and the USFWS decided to ignore the "science" simply because it did NOT meet their preconceived notions about spotted owls. And since for most wildlife biologists it was about the ending logging on the National Forests, not protecting owls they really did not want to consider the "science".
In 1994, we lost 10 spotted owl nests in the first of mega-fires that reduced the population of spotted owls in Chelan County from over 100 spotted owls to ONE in recent years. ONE is a very lonely number when it comes recovery of endangered species populations.
The rest of your statement is fine.
I remember when we started on the spotted owl "adventure". My recommendation was simple, flip a coin and pick one or the other and focus on that. Instead the Gang of Four and President Clinton came up with a plan that destroyed 30,000 jobs, ruined entire communities and drove the spotted owl almost into extinction.
I haven't read the plan but the article said "The plan details that landowners or land managers could apply for a permit to kill the owls, and that a large-bore shotgun would be the choice weapon " which led me to believe there would be public participation in the cull.
Spotted owl habitat on the east side of the Cascades is quite different from the west side. I did spotted owl work for years on the west side for both the state and feds, and personally surveyed untold thousands of acres of mature forest and old growth and second growth and had knowledge of others who were doing the same and knew of their results. There were very few nesting spotted owls found outside of old growth forests. I personally saw none, but I know there were a few in other parts of Western Washington. But they were in the minority.
I never worked with owls on the east side but I have lived there, and know how different the habitat is there. I have no firsthand knowledge of northern California but there were more spotted owls in California using 2nd growth than in 2nd growth elsewhere west of the Cascades because those forests mimic important characteristics of old growth.
What did they "ignore?" I have not kept up with all of the science since I left the area 25 years ago but I know that spotted owls can coexist with low and medium intensity fires. I'm not sure what the thinking on it was in 93, as fires were not of big concern where I was. Of course the huge fires of recent years are a different animal too.
Certainly the potential threat of barred owls was already apparent before 1993 and a few hybrids had already been detected. I believe I recorded one, but I never saw one. I saw many,many barred owls even 30 years ago.
That is sad that if there is only one spottie left in Chelan County. I always wanted to see them in their east side habitat but never got the chance.
They didn't "migrate" at all (wrong word), but the evidence suggests they expanded their range in response to landscape alterations like tree plantings in the Great Plains, and large-scale logging in the mountains.
I would still call that natural. It's not like some humans released some captured or captive owls far outside their natural range and then they expanded in the new locale.
Spotted owl habitat on the east side of the Cascades is quite different from the west side. I did spotted owl work for years on the west side for both the state and feds, and personally surveyed untold thousands of acres of mature forest and old growth and second growth and had knowledge of others who were doing the same and knew of their results. There were very few nesting spotted owls found outside of old growth forests. I personally saw none, but I know there were a few in other parts of Western Washington. But they were in the minority.
I never worked with owls on the east side but I have lived there, and know how different the habitat is there. I have no firsthand knowledge of northern California but there were more spotted owls in California using 2nd growth than in 2nd growth elsewhere west of the Cascades because those forests mimic important characteristics of old growth.
What did they "ignore?" I have not kept up with all of the science since I left the area 25 years ago but I know that spotted owls can coexist with low and medium intensity fires. I'm not sure what the thinking on it was in 93, as fires were not of big concern where I was. Of course the huge fires of recent years are a different animal too.
Certainly the potential threat of barred owls was already apparent before 1993 and a few hybrids had already been detected. I believe I recorded one, but I never saw one. I saw many,many barred owls even 30 years ago.
That is sad that if there is only one spottie left in Chelan County. I always wanted to see them in their east side habitat but never got the chance.
They ignored the Barred Owl threat and the wildfire history east of the crest.
There was no such thing as a low or medium intensity fire in spotted owl sites east of the divide. Those second and third growth stands were falling apart and had very high fuel loadings. Once fire entered the spotted owl sites, they were totally destroyed.
BTW, it really was the "fuel loading" that created excellent habitat for prey for the spotted owls. They definitely were not hungry like western Oregon and Washington spotted owls.
We are literally burning down our National Forests and Parks. Currently the timber growth on the National Forests is NEGATIVE due to all the wildfires. That is the first time that has happened.
We burn down TEN TIMES the timber volume that we harvest on our National Forests EVERY YEAR.
We have burned down 20% of the Giant Sequoia's over six feet in diameter in just three fires in California.
At this point, we will lose not only the spotted owl, but many other endangered species found in our Forests and Parks. I hope that we can at least save a few of the Giant Sequoia Groves.
History will judge the Gang of Four, the environmental movement, and the Clinton Administration harshly for the destruction of our National Forests and Parks.
I am not qualified to weigh in on the more recent spotted owl biology except to note that depending on which agency/entity you work(ed) for, the definition of "good" management science differs quite a bit. IMHE working for several, agencies have different mission statements which give rise to different cultures and that creates bowling shirt bias. USDA FS accepts/rejects some, USFWS, BLM, state forestry agencies, private timber companies, NGOs, and local residents that depend on them something else. Which is why the debate and conflict continues. Meanwhile, forest ecosystems made up of spotted owls, barred owls and a bunch of other critters continue on their merry way...probably into trouble.
Last edited by Parnassia; 12-12-2023 at 04:01 PM..
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I am not qualified to weigh in on the more recent spotted owl biology except to note that depending on which agency/entity you work(ed) for, the definition of "good" management science differs quite a bit. IMHE working for several, agencies have different mission statements which give rise to different cultures and that creates bowling shirt bias. USDA FS accepts/rejects some, USFWS, BLM, state forestry agencies, private timber companies, NGOs, and local residents that depend on them something else. Which is why the debate and conflict continues. Meanwhile, forest ecosystems made up of spotted owls, barred owls and a bunch of other critters continue on their merry way...probably into trouble.
