Northern Spotted Owl Listed as Endangered

Northern Spotted owl

Northern Spotted Owl [Photo By John and Karen Hollingsworth, John and Karen, USFS Region 5 (Pacific Southwest) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons]

Press release from EPIC:

By a unanimous vote, the California Fish and Game Commission listed the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) under the California Endangered Species Act. The Commission’s decision ended the four year review process, first initiated by the Environmental Protection Information Center’s (EPIC) petition for listing in 2012.

The northern spotted owl is under siege on many fronts. Northern spotted owls are threatened with extinction by past and ongoing habitat loss, primarily to timber harvest, which can exacerbate competition from the aggressive and invasive barred owl. The increasingly rare and old growth forest adapted owls are now understood to be at risk from the use of rodenticides and other poisons used in large scale trespass marijuana operations, and there is increasing concern about what the impacts of climate change will be on the forest ecosystems that the owls call home.

“The listing of the northern spotted owl is one small step towards recovery,” said Tom Wheeler, Program Director at EPIC. “The owl was here long before us. It is our moral obligation to ensure that the owl will continue to roam our forests long after we are gone.”

While the northern spotted owl is found across the West Coast, California’s population is the species’ greatest stronghold. Protecting California’s owls is key to protecting the species at large.

The northern spotted owl has been listed as “threatened” under the Federal Endangered Species Act since 1990. The listing of the northern spotted owl has slowed the decline of the spotted owl but has not arrested it. Additional protections and conservation measures are necessary to stop the owl’s decline and to put it on a track to recovery.

“As evidenced by the owl’s decline, our current protections are not up to snuff,” said Rob DiPerna, Forest and Wildlife Advocate for EPIC. “I hope that all stakeholders can set aside differences and work together towards recovery.”

*            *            *

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

29 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
bottlebro
Guest
bottlebro
7 years ago

Is this news stream 20 yo 2nite? Ugggh… Dumb owls… Quit flying into my windshield.

Pooh Daddy
Guest
Pooh Daddy
7 years ago
Reply to  bottlebro

This kind of stuff keeps the masses distracted. Owls but no mention of Marci in weeks….

Honeydew Bridge Chump
Guest
Honeydew Bridge Chump
7 years ago
Reply to  Pooh Daddy

She injected herself with spotted owl DNA, and is protected.

Maryellen
Guest
Maryellen
7 years ago

Listening for the spotted owl….hope they make the odds..

Crescent city
Guest
Crescent city
7 years ago

This is not a good thing for my family,myself and anyone who supports their families with timber$$$.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
7 years ago
Reply to  Crescent city

Don’t be dense. More timber regulations mean more jobs for surveyors, more timber in the long run. Fewer regulations mean we get another Hurowitz who screws everyone over. Has everyone already forgotten what happened to his employees and local businesses to which he owed money?

???
Guest
???
7 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

35 & under,Yes, they have. They’re reading it right now saying, Hurowitz who?

the misadventures of bunjee
Guest
the misadventures of bunjee
7 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Horowitz was no logger. He didn’t know two shits about forests or management. He saw a money maker and found ways to extract as much cash as he could. Get in. Get paid. Get out. It could be any industry and that guy would have jumped in if he smelled an easy way to make a million before the locals noticed. He and his little insider clan screwed over anyone not paying attention.

Goatroper
Guest
Goatroper
7 years ago

OBAMA administration has been against the spotted owls when they open the season on barred owls and other owls. Remember awhile back the fish and wildlife said to shoot the other owls Remember that ment open the door to shoot and destroy all owls LIBERALS is a mental illness

Stormy
Guest
Stormy
7 years ago

We must protect God’s creatures. We are supposed to be stewards, not land rapists.

Mogtx
Guest
7 years ago

Marci kitchen is gone buy now they won’t catch her.,but like the song says its to late .she is long gone way to go cops .but the owls are the subject .we can’t let one species go extinct it will be one species after another until we kill our Earth it is cause and effect climate change will cause extinction level event .,it is already happeneing all over the world. ,so I say do whatever it takes to saving the great spotted owl .

Laurie Jensen
Guest
Laurie Jensen
7 years ago

I never did understand this!!! Seems to me the Owl will nest in whatever it deems fit for a nest!!! Instead of closing down the logging ops, they should focus on the Pot growing ops!!! The pesticides they use kill more Raptors when they kill and eat the rodents who have eaten the poison!!! These pesticides are also ruining, and poisoning the creeks, rivers and lakes. Im not saying all growers use poison, but it only takes “1 Apple to ruin the whole barrel” and mess up the eco-system!!! For those families who live near a grower and use the ground water with a pump on it, how safe is the water to use? This ground water, if grower is using pesticides, can or could be deadly to humans!!! Humans are greedy, so it is what it is Its really sad

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
7 years ago
Reply to  Laurie Jensen

Logging is WAAAAY more destructive to the environment than growing pot. Topsoil destruction isn’t measured in square feet, but acres or square miles. Pot brings more money into the local economy and creates more jobs than timber. If you want to talk about water and pesticide use, check out Napa Valley to our south.

themissinglink
Guest
themissinglink
7 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Sorry but your dead wrong. Look at our rivers where we can’t take a furry friend for a swim because they will die. Logging did not create this problem, but use of Rodentcides and Pesticides did. So much for your argument.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
7 years ago
Reply to  themissinglink

Logging is exactly what caused the Spotted Owl to be classified as endangered. Meanwhile, there are Bald Eagles all up and down the North Fork of the Eel where the weed lives. Rodenticides and Pesticides don’t cause blue-green algae blooms. Try harder.

the misadventures of bunjee
Guest
the misadventures of bunjee
7 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

So you give pot a pass then? Time to grow up and out of the old and tackle the new issues, kid. Rodent killer doesn’t cause algae blooms, you’re right. But then that is pretty well known info, unless you’re trying to use it as FERTILIZER, which is a cause. You know what also doesn’t cause algae blooms? Hydrogen peroxide. But DiHidydrogen Monoxide is a key ingredient. If you want to tell people to try harder, start with yourself. You want to blame logging for all of life’s ills, and do absolutely nothing about the current threats to the environment. In my opinion, that makes you just as complicit.

Who
Guest
Who
7 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Not in the cost of the human minds people like yourselves environmental hypocrites that have lost it .Sometimes the costs are not only on the land but in the brains of those left addicted . Seems like this year’s lineup of the murders should give some clue .

???
Guest
???
7 years ago
Reply to  Laurie Jensen

Have you looked at Mt Shasta thru google earth yet? Satalite images? Id prefer our mountains to not look like they are covered entirely with pimples the way they have ruin a national treasure!

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
7 years ago
Reply to  ???

THIS. Also the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, and most of Oregon.

Zaniah
Guest
Zaniah
7 years ago
Reply to  Laurie Jensen

Get real. Without pot this county will shrivel up and die a worse death than you can imagine.

Realwood
Guest
Realwood
7 years ago
Reply to  Zaniah

Good..let it shrivel up & die! The real country folk will survive. Everyone else can go back where they came from.

Phoenix K.
Guest
Phoenix K.
7 years ago

So sad that people still use rat poison. It’s not just the pot growers, it’s honestly this weird phenomenon where people move to the country even though they don’t like the country they just want its benefits like privacy, quiet, growing, firewood business, whatever. But since they didn’t’ move there for the sacred reason of loving mother nature they have to destroy anything they don’t like about mother nature. Spiders, mice, bees, flies, everything has to go to with these people and it’s sick. I wish they would leave country housing only to people that actually love nature and don’t think their gods that need to change their environment. I shockingly don’t have any outdoor grows in my neighborhood but my cat still did eat rat poison and I know it’s because of fake wanna be country folks that need to stop kidding themselves and move back to the city.

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
7 years ago
Reply to  Phoenix K.

I couldn’t agree more. We’ve got “them” in our own old neighborhood.
They shit in their (our) water with porcelain monuments to out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentalities. They haven’t the wit to tear down a structure no longer in use and rebuild a home from the reclaimed materials. They don’t school their own children, preferring to rip up our road doing 30mph trying to ship the kids out on a school bus. They can’t even grow their own food. They fear and kill bats and snakes. They consider their land to be an economic asset, instead of a base for future generations. They hold college degrees and are dumber than a board. I could go on, but the point is yes: If this description fits, please go back where you came from. af

Realwood
Guest
Realwood
7 years ago
Reply to  Phoenix K.

Spot on Phoenix!..it boils down to the people who are here for the wilderness & love it or the people who dont give a shit & are only here for selfish reasons.
The greed rush is fuct!..but i gotta say clear cut logging is worse as far as environment goes..they do exactly what greed growers do but on a way larger scale. I grew up surrounded by Barnum timber land..the most clear cut, dirt carved, poison sprayed(2-4-d) opperation ive ever seen! The greed rush is worse because of the kind of people it attracts here…total criminal scumbag thugs who dont give a shit about anything but getting rich & they will rape pillage & kill for it! Its sad because the wilderness was really starting to heal from the timber boom only to be re buttraped by the greed rushers. Hopefully this owl will make them crack down on these environmental criminals.

Farce
Guest
Farce
7 years ago
Reply to  Phoenix K.

Yes. The mass influx of people coming to these hills for profiteering has been my main problem with the Green Rush. Some have welcomed them all but not me! I fought the timber companies through the 80’s and ironically found myself opposed to large weed grows by the 00’s for the same reasons. This is a beautiful place with a chance at recovery. I’ve been blown away to witness the capitulation of our community to the weed greed. Even people flying Grateful Dead flags and pretending to be hippies or rastas have acted very badly. Not so they can live a simple life but so they can have LOTS of money, like gangstas and thugs. We used to discourage that attitude not embrace it! It’s been disgusting.

Cove dwellers
Guest
Cove dwellers
7 years ago

Me and my mother spotted this same owl last night in our tress up off toth rd

G-ma
Guest
G-ma
7 years ago

I was born and raised here,moved away a couple of times,but this is my home and home is where my heart is!!there’s no place on earth as rare and has amazing beauty,like Humboldt.the owls have been here before us,there part of our forest,our land our home,they belong here.they do need to be protected thank you!!!

Llc.
Guest
Llc.
7 years ago

How will all the mixed light ( indoor grows in greenhouses) with there loud ass generators ( 60 db my ass)!effect the night life ?seriously our board of supervisors missed the 90s memo by allowing indoors in greenhouses -disgraceful .light pollution ,in every watershed …hooray!some of us lived in the country for peace and quiet ,possibly even dark night skies.conditions Owls probably like.

Stop the Corporate Logging
Guest
Stop the Corporate Logging
7 years ago

Spotted owls eat rats and mice,
Rats and mice eat tan oak acorns in the redwood forest, Mendocino and Humboldt Redwood Company are spraying Hundreds of Thousands of Tan Oaks with cancer causing herbicides, this means rats and mice have no food, and that owls have no mice or rats as food… any wonder! Stop Logging Redwoods, Stop Spraying Herbicides in our Forest. Take local control of our local forests and preserve them for future generations to enjoy, logging brings so little to our economy and community.