Fw: The northern spotted owl is in big trouble - take action

[Guest guest]

Defenders of Wildlife

Defenders of Wildlife

 

 

The northern spotted owl is in big trouble. The Bush/Cheney Administration'

s disingenuous draft " recovery plan " threatens to undermine years of

progress in protecting these owls and the old growth forests they need to

survive.

Tell officials to go back to the drawing board and develop an effective

science-based recovery plan that protects northern spotted owls -- not just

timber companies.

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This plan won't cut it

 

The draft recovery plan for the northern spotted owl is the product of

inappropriate and excessive interference from political appointees who have

no background in owl management.

Only the timber industry stands to benefit from the Bush/Cheney

Administration's " recovery plan. "

We just have a few days to act. Tell officials at the Fish & Wildlife

Service that this plan just won't cut it. Help us reach our goal of 25,000

comments by the Friday deadline!

 

 

Help spread the word. Forward this message on to others in the area who

care about scientifically sound wildlife management...

 

 

 

From the current draft plan, it is clear that:

The Bush/Cheney Administration and the timber industry are in cahoots to

weaken habitat protections and increase logging in the public forests where

these owls live.

The draft " recovery plan " as it stands now will destroy old growth forest

networks -- the backbone of an effective conservation strategy for the

northern spotted owl and many other species that depend on these forests to

survive.

The Bush/Cheney Administration continues to put politics before science.

Old growth forests once dominated the Pacific Northwest, but decades of

logging have left them drastically reduced and forced endangered northern

spotted owls out of vital habitat.

 

Dwindling by almost 4% per year, the northern spotted owl is at risk of

declining to the point that the species would need to be " uplisted " from

threatened to endangered. Some scientists believe there may be as few as

3,000 pairs left.

In early 2006, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service created the Northern Spotted

Owl Recovery Team, a broad coalition of scientists and other experts from

state and federal agencies and local stakeholder groups, to develop a

recovery plan for these beleaguered birds.

But in what amounted to top-level political interference, a Washington, DC

" oversight committee, " consisting of high-ranking officials from the

Bush/Cheney Administration rejected the science-based plan put forth by the

Recovery Team in favor of a plan that put timber interests first.

Let officials know that we won't stand for political interference when it

comes to endangered species and habitat recovery.

The so-called oversight committee ordered the recovery team to stop work on

development of their conservation approach and develop a second approach

that would allow federal agencies to decide where to place chunks of owl

habitat ad hoc and without accountability in order to maximize timber

profits.

 

The " recovery plan " that emerged would set back nearly 20 years of progress

for both the northern spotted owl and the old growth forests they depend on

for survival.

 

Science should govern wildlife management, not greed and politics. Urge

officials at the Fish & Wildlife Service to withdraw the politicized draft

recovery plan and reconvene the Recovery Team to draft a new plan based on

real science.

 

We have just days to act, but there's still time to save northern spotted

owls and the hundreds of other creatures that depend on these ancient

forests to survive. The deadline for comments on the draft " recovery plan "

is this Friday, August 24th, so please take a stand for the northern spotted

owl and against political corruption today.

 

Thank you for being there for wildlife when they need us most.

Sincerely,

Gina LaRocco

Conservation Program Associate

Defenders of Wildlife

 

Fast Facts about the Northern Spotted Owl and Old-growth Forests:

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service should withdraw the politicized draft

recovery plan and reconvene the Recovery Team to draft a new plan based on

scientific findings.

This is a flagrant attempt by the Bush/Cheney Administration to allow

accelerated and unsustainable logging on federal lands at the expense of the

spotted owl and other wildlife that depend on these forests.

Spotted owl numbers are declining more rapidly than anticipated when the

federal government added them to the endangered species list in 1990. Given

the continuing stresses and threats to this species, the northern spotted

owl needs more old growth forest protection, not less.

The Bush/Cheney Administration ignored repeated requests for a thorough peer

review on the habitat provisions in the plan prior to its public release.

Decisions related to the recovery of a species should not be subject to high

level political interference as was the case with several plans, including

the draft plan for the northern spotted owl.

Protection of old growth forests not only supports northern spotted owl

recovery, it supports the recovery of many other at-risk species.

 

 

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