Unlikely Alliances Form Over Pacific Northwest Owl Culling Proposal

A proposal by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect northern spotted owls by eliminating as many as 450,000 barred owls over 30 years has drawn an unusual coalition of opponents, the Los Angeles Times reported (10-29-25).

Republican members of Congress and animal rights activists are already aligned in opposition to the plan, which would authorize trained shooters to kill barred owls that outcompete the threatened northern spotted owl across the Pacific Northwest.

Timber industry groups, meanwhile, have sided with environmentalists in favor of moving ahead with the cull. Some logging advocates warn that scrapping the plan could delay federal timber harvests. About 2.6 million acres of western Oregon timberlands managed by the Bureau of Land Management are tied to resource management plans dependent on the cull, according to Travis Joseph, president and chief executive of the American Forest Resource Council.

Joseph said in an October letter to Congress that the area can produce at least 278 million board feet of timber annually “with the potential for significantly more.” If the owl removal is halted, he warned, the government would likely need to restart Endangered Species Act consultations for the northern spotted owl—a process that could take years and delay timber sales.