Spotted owl numbers dropping at faster rate

PORTLAND – Scientists report that after two decades of attempts to save the species, northern spotted owl numbers in the Northwest are still on the decline – and at a faster rate.

The threatened bird nests in old trees and is at the heart of a decadeslong struggle over the fate of the region’s old-growth forests.

Scientists at a conference Tuesday in Vancouver, Washington, reported that owl numbers are now dropping at an annual rate of 3.8 percent, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Glen Sachet.

Five years ago, the rate was 2.8 percent.

The scientists also said population declines are more widespread in the bird’s range from Washington through Northern California.

Besides losing habitat, spotted owls in recent years have been pushed out by barred owls, an aggressive invader from the East.

Federal officials have begun a six-year experiment with shooting the barred owls to see whether spotted owls will move back into their old haunts.

The longer they are established in an area, the harder barred owls are on the spotted owl, which is down as much as 77 percent in some areas, said a statement from Paul Henson, Oregon state supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Where barred owls are removed, he said, spotted owls have started to rebound.

The conference was held to monitor the effect of the Northwest Forest Plan, a bargain struck in 1994 to settle lawsuits over the spotted owl that had stymied logging on Northwest federal forests.

It was supposed to produce both habitat for the owl and logs for the timber industry, but advocates on both sides have contended ever since that it hasn’t produced enough of either.