Court ruling protects spotted-owl habitat

By JEFF BARNARD
The Associated Press

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GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The government must provide for the recovery of the northern spotted owl, not just its survival, when considering how much logging can be allowed in old-growth forests designated as critical habitat, a federal appeals court ruled.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was the third since 2001 to find that the standard that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses to measure the harm caused by government projects within critical habitat for threatened and endangered species goes against the will of Congress in enacting the Endangered Species Act.

"Habitat loss is the No. 1 cause of the loss of endangered species," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The next step for conservationists will be to use this ruling to block old-growth timber sales that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management are planning in areas designated for logging under the Northwest Forest Plan, said attorney Stephanie Parent, who represents the conservation groups.

Once a plant or animal is declared threatened or endangered, the Endangered Species Act requires designation of habitat critical to its recovery.

The Bush administration has judged those cases by the standard that it can allow logging so long as it does not jeopardize the survival of the species.

Environmentalists have argued that the law requires a higher standard.

The habitat must be good enough that the species thrives enough to eventually be taken off the endangered-species list.

A coalition of environmental groups challenged six biological opinions issued by Fish and Wildlife allowing logging within critical habitat for the northern spotted owl on federal lands in Washington and Oregon.

Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Joan Jewett said the agency would have no comment on the ruling until its lawyers review it.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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