Oregon and California Wildfires Rekindle Debate about Protection of the Northern Spotted Owl

The debate over the protections of the Northern spotted owl have come back front center due to the wildfires that have and continue to ravage the West Coast. Opponents say the protections have prevented logging that would have thinned out forests and made the blazes less intense and destructive. The northern spotted owl was listed as a federally threatened species in 1990, which added restrictions to tree-cutting on millions of acres of the region’s national forests. According to forest-management experts, cutting down trees in old-growth forests can threaten local wildlife like the northern spotted owl, but such activities are also critical to reducing combustible fuel and lowering the risk of wildfires growing and spreading quickly. John Bailey, professor of forestry and fire management at Oregon State University said, “We have crippled the whole process to do effective federal land management there.”