Tell the US Fish & Wildlife Service to Restore Protections for Spotted Owls

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

In one of its final acts, the previous administration struck down vital protections for Northern spotted owls: The administration opened up 3.4 million acres of their protected habitat for logging and other development.¹

Scientists believe that all of their unprotected habitat could disappear by 2030 at the earliest, making one thing clear: Our nation’s dwindling spotted owl populations needed these protections.²

With populations plummeting and habitat vanishing, spotted owls need the protections restored now. That’s why we’re calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to swiftly stand up for spotted owls. Are you with us? Tell the FWS to restore their protections at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=42459.

Across the country, as our forests are opened up for logging, spotted owl homes become hostile lands, barren of the trees they need for survival. Already in Washington state, 77 percent of spotted owls have died, and each year, 4 percent of all remaining spotted owls die.^3,4

One of the worst threats? Habitat loss. Spotted owls have already lost 70 percent of their habitat due to development and logging.⁵ And while spotted owls deserve Endangered Species Act protections, they’re instead being stripped of their habitat.⁶

Logging these birds’ habitat leads to competition for food and shelter — and eventually, the loss of even more spotted owls. If we allow spotted owls to lose 3.4 million acres of their protected habitat, we’re letting them get kicked while they’re down.

The Biden administration already announced its plan to review the rule, but if we want to stop habitat destruction in its tracks, we have to act fast.

Tell the FWS: Take a stand for spotted owls.

When a baby spotted owl learns to fly, it performs an exercise called “branching.” Leaping from branch to branch, sometimes landing and hanging upside down, these owls need the trees and branches in their forest homes before they can take to the skies.

But without their protected habitat, there’s no branch to land on, no tree to launch from, and nowhere to learn how to fly.

That’s why we’re raising your voice and the voices of thousands of PennEnvironment supporters as we work to make sure spotted owls stay safe. Will you help us, Sandy?

Restore protections for spotted owls’ habitat.

1. Lisa Friedman and Catrin Einhorn, “Trump Opens Habitat of a Threatened Owl to Timber Harvesting,” The New York Times, January 13, 2021.
2. Lisa Friedman and Catrin Einhorn, “Trump Opens Habitat of a Threatened Owl to Timber Harvesting,” The New York Times, January 13, 2021.
3. Darryl Fears, “Spotted owls could go extinct without more federal protection. But they’re not going to get it, Trump officials say,” The Washington Post, December 14, 2020.
4. Gillian Flaccus, “Trump administration slashes spotted owls’ habitat,” AP News, January 14, 2021.
5. Darryl Fears, “Spotted owls could go extinct without more federal protection. But they’re not going to get it, Trump officials say,” The Washington Post, December 14, 2020.
6. Darryl Fears, “Spotted owls could go extinct without more federal protection. But they’re not going to get it, Trump officials say,” The Washington Post, December 14, 2020.