Haven't had a turkey for Thanksgiving in years...
Posted on 02/09/2011 11:15:51 PM PST by george76
Nothing's worked. Not the clamp on federal timber sales that hammered Oregon's mill towns. Not the lawsuits or the listing as an endangered species. The belated work to retain and restore its favored old-growth habitat will take decades to unfold. Twenty plus years of trying to save the northern spotted owl and it's still slipping away.
Come summer, federal wildlife officials expect to finish a draft environmental impact statement that most likely recommends taking to the woods with shotguns. Over the next year, in three or more study areas from Washington to northern California, they might kill 1,200 to 1,500 barred owls -- the larger, more aggressive competitor that has routed spotted owls from much of their territory and become, along with habitat loss, the biggest threat to their survival.
It's a wrenching decision that splits wildlife biologists and environmentalists. Killing one native animal to benefit another -- especially a "big, beautiful raptor, a fantastic bird," as one biologist puts it -- is such a leap that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hired an environmental ethicist to guide its discussions.
More barred owls, perhaps hundreds, would have to be killed every year to keep the study areas free of interlopers for three to 10 years. One biologist estimated the cost at up to $1 million annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
???
So, what do they do when the barred owl is endangered?
If the spotted owl can’t compete...AMF!
Not as tasty as fried spotted owls.
Give the owls guns and let them fight it out. Survival of the fittest.
what’s the point of forcing schools to teach the theory of evolution as fact, a theory that hinges on the concept of natural selection and survival of the fittest.. only to turn around and try to stop evolution from happening right in front of them?
oh wait.. democrats. nothing they do makes any sense anyway.
“”Are barred owls tasty?””
Dunno, but if they are, they’d be a heck of a meal. Had one perched on the clothesline post by my pack door this past fall, and that sucker was BIG.
The owls eat well around here; we have voles out the whazoo, squirrels - red, grey, and flying - chipmunks, and lots of field mice.
If Mother Nature wants to wipe out the Spotted Owl by sending in Barred Owls, then that’s how it should be.
We should not interfere, unless it gets in the way of lumbering.
From the Oregon Department of Forestry:
Haven't had a turkey for Thanksgiving in years...
Great pic. What a beautiful bird.
You have it backwards. The question should be: Are spotted owls tasty? It is well known that the best solution to remediate declining species is to hunt them. Hunted species historically thrive, since the hunters see to it that conditions promoting their prized targets prevail.
Thanks for the ping.
The enviro nazis and so-called biologists basically killed the lumber industry in OR, adversely affected the livelihood of hundreds of thousands in OR and now 30 or so years later they oops!, we made a mistake.
Leave the owls alone to fend for themselves and increase timber sales, maybe they’ll be able to rebuild some mills and create some jobs.
now that logging is acknowledged not to be the problem .
Any chances that the communists / ecos will allow logging ?
I sincerely doubt it. The enviro nazis knew it was phony then, it was just a means of killing the industry and for the most part they were successful.
At the time there was a large influx of people into OR and they thought cutting timber was terrible because it “raped” the land and looked awful. After all, they moved there to be part of the great outdoors and get away from city life.
If timber sales were about to increase any appreciable amount the nazis would come up with another sham, in fact they probably already have several in mind.
We are seeing some allowed USFS logging near homes of the limo-liberals because the beattle killed pine looks ugly and presents a real forest fire problem to those limo-liberal mansions.
Fun to watch as USFS logging is now good , if it is near their mansions.
Isn’t it strange how they can change their minds so quickly about something that’s put millions out of work but if it is going to affect them they forget about their principles?
They’re hypocritical b*******.
I had no idea they were killing the barred owls now. Shocking.
But here is something we should be aware of: Many consider the barred owl and spotted owl to be THE SAME SPECIES! This point is briefly touched upon in the full article, but it doesn't go in depth into this issue. In the Northwest, where the two races come into contatct, they FREQUENTLY interbreed, producing a mixed race that ornithologists call the "sparred owl." No joke. Many in the field consider this active interbreeding to be the chief threat to the pure race known as the "spotted" owl.
But that's the way of nature, isn't it? And I'm truly shocked that some would want to wipe out the pure race of barred owls that are moving south in that region.
Thanks for this post. It's good to know what's going on up there.
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