Protecting the northern spotted owl from wildfire and killing a competing owl should restore the controversial species in 30 years, federal scientists said Friday.
"Unless the barred owl threat is lessened, land management alone will not recover the owl," said Ren Lohoefener, director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific region.
The shotgunning of barred owls, a cousin of the spotted owl that encroached from back East on its old growth turf, to see if it improves spotted owl numbers is part of the final Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan released Friday by the Fish and Wildlife Service. So is a new strategy to thin fire-prone forests, leaving behind patches of spotted owl habitat.
That strategy goes for more than 1.1 million acres of timberland between Redding and the Oregon border, said Joan Jewett, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific region. Overall cost of the owl’s recovery is estimated to be $489 million, Lohoefener said.
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/may/17/recovery-plan-kills-species/The comments are PRICELESS. :popcorn: