Wider spotted-owl protection backed

OLYMPIA — Washington state's Forest Practices Board voted unanimously yesterday to expand protection for the northern spotted owl, which is disappearing despite logging restrictions.

The action came after two days of hearings that outlined the grave threat to the owl that is considered an indicator of the health of the forest habitat in the West.

The spotted owl won federal protection 15 years ago but is in serious peril today.

The board heard that the barred owl, described as the spotted owl's "bigger and nastier" cousin, is a natural enemy that is contributing to the unexpectedly rapid decline of the spotted-owl population — a decline of more than 7 percent a year in Washington.

The board, which oversees logging on 12 million acres of state and private lands, voted to begin the process of changing rules for protecting spotted-owl habitat. The chairman called it a "tuneup"; the board didn't speculate on the extent of possible changes.

The board said it will closely monitor and work with the federal government as it develops a new spotted-owl recovery plan. The panel urged agencies to "act quickly and decisively to assess threats to spotted-owl populations posed by barred owls and to take appropriate action," the Natural Resources department reported in a statement yesterday.

The spotted owl was declared a threatened species under the federal Environmental Protection Act in 1990, primarily because of logging in Northwest old-growth forests.

But the number of spotted owls — about 8,000 pairs in the West by some accounts — continues to drop. Scientists told the board the owl remains at significant risk of extinction.