I can see clear evidence that you are correct. Here in the Northwest, the spotted owl and attendant regulations have decimated the timber industry. The more ambitious moved out and changed occupations. The person who really never wanted to work now has an excuse not to work. Welfare of various types keeps them going but at a minimal level.
There is money in meth but most just fill in their hours using it and robbing, fighting, etc. Not much different from hip hop culture except no gangs yet and rural areas spread them out. My daughter is on a hospital group dealing with the effects of domestic violence. Such violence has mushroomed in the past several years. I could go on about such things as the rape and murder of a five year old by a meth user in a family of meth users.
With the shutdown of coal and other industries, the future doesn’t look good. I’ve been blasted for saying the black problem is hip hop culture and no reasonably available employment. The problems are spreading and the white slacker/meth head culture is growing. It ain’t a pretty sight.
That's the NORTHERN Spotted Owl. Because the same critter below a certain parallel is doing quite well, thank you very much. Down there they call that same critter the SOUTHERN Spotted Owl.
Strix occidentalis caurina – Northern Spotted Owl
Strix occidentalis occidentalis – California Spotted Owl
Strix occidentalis lucida – Mexican Spotted Owl
The Gila Wilderness is home to the largest population of the Mexican sub-species.[4]
The nearly contiguous range of the Northern Spotted Owl extends from southwestern British Columbia south through western Washington and Oregon to Marin County on the north-central coast of California.[5][6] The California Spotted Owl’s range overlaps that of the Northern Spotted Owl in the southern Cascade Range, and extends south through the western Sierra Nevada to Tulare County. They also occur in discrete populations in mountainous areas of coastal and southern California from Monterey County to northern Baja California.[5][6] In the United States the Mexican Spotted Owl occurs in disjunct populations in mountain ranges and canyons of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and extreme western Texas. In Mexico it ranges from Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, and eastern Coahuila through the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental as far south as Michoacán......
.....The California Spotted Owl is not considered to be threatened nor endangered by the USFWS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_Owl