Wildlife Service Sued Over California Spotted Owl Decision

SAN FRANCISCO, California, May 12, 2004 (ENS) - Six conservation organizations have filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for denying protection for the California spotted owl under the federal Endangered Species Act. The owl inhabits old growth forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and its survival is threatened by logging on Forest Service and private lands.

Filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for California's Northern District, the suit challenges the Fish and Wildlife Service's February 10, 2003 decision denying protection for the owl, a ruling made in response to a petition filed by the groups, who are represented by the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice.

The agency's decision not to protect the owl was based on the assumption that the owl's habitat would be protected by the Clinton administration's Sierra Nevada Framework, a plan that restricted logging of old growth forests to protect the owl's habitat while allowing thinning of forests around communities.

But the Bush administration issued a rule on January 22 that weakens the Framework. The Bush plan allows triple the logging in the Sierra Nevada and removes most protections for the owl and old-growth forests.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relied on the Framework to deny protection for the owl, even though they knew these protections were on the Bush administration's chopping block," said Noah Greenwald, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "This decision flies in the face of common sense."

The Sierra Framework provided protection for the owl, while at the same time allowing for progress towards reducing risk of destructive forest fires, by protecting fire resistant medium and large trees across the landscape, and focusing fuel treatments around communities where they are needed most, the groups say.

"The Clinton-era Sierra Framework put an emphasis on protecting communities and the environment. But that balanced approach was gutted by the Bush administration's determination to triple logging in the Sierra," said Greg Loarie, an attorney from Earthjustice who is representing the groups. "The California spotted owl will not survive when the chain saws are cut loose in old-growth habitat. The owl deserves protection now."

Unlike the northern and Mexican subspecies, the California spotted owl has never been listed under the Endangered Species Act, yet it too is closely associated with old growth forests.

Old growth forests in the Sierra Nevada have declined by as much as 90 percent, and this habitat loss is believed to be a factor in poor survival of adult California spotted owls, the groups say.

California spotted owls were found by a Forest Service study to be dying at a faster rate than the listed northern spotted owl. "The California spotted owl is headed for extinction and needs protection under the Endangered Species Act," said Greenwald.

The plaintiff groups are: the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign, and the John Muir Project, a project of the Earth Island Institute.

Read the complaint online: http://www.earthjustice.org/news/documents/5-04/CSOComplaint.pdf