Tell the Biden Administration to Give Spotted Owls the Protected Habitat They Need

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

Just before leaving office, the Trump administration stripped 3.4 million acres of protected habitat away from northern spotted owls.¹

With more than 70 percent of their habitat already gone, these imperiled birds need all of the help they can get.²

Thankfully, we now have a chance to return those 3.4 million acres to spotted owls: The Biden administration recently began accepting public comments on a proposal to expand their habitat.³ Please speak up to save spotted owls at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=46153.

Even before the Trump administration decided to open more than a third of their habitat for logging and development, the spotted owl situation was dire.

These birds — known for their white, fluffy feathers as owlets and their beautiful, spotted chests as adults — are slipping toward extinction: Spotted owl populations have dropped by 77 percent in Washington, 68 percent in Oregon and half in California.⁴

Habitat loss is one of the key reasons we keep losing spotted owls, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes that much of their unprotected habitat could disappear as early as 2030.⁵ If those estimates are correct, their protected habitat will be all spotted owls have left.

Now is our best chance to make sure spotted owls get the protected habitat they need to survive. Add your name to stand up for spotted owls before this comment period ends.

Once spotted owls find their mate, they keep them around for life.⁶ Each couple depends on a large territory of its own for hunting and building their nest — and if they have that, they can protect themselves while feeding and raising their owlets.

Without protected habitat, spotted owl couples could have nowhere to raise their young.

Weighing only 1.5 pounds, these little owls can’t stand up for themselves. That’s where you come in, Sandy.

Tell the Biden administration to give spotted owls the 3.4 million acres of protected habitat they need.

1. Lisa Friedman and Catrin Einhorn, “Trump Opens Habitat of a Threatened Owl to Timber Harvesting,” The New York Times, January 13, 2021.
2. 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.
3. Joshua Partlow, “Biden proposes restoring 3.4 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat, reversing Trump rule,” The Washington Post, July 19, 2021.
4. 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.
5. Lisa Friedman and Catrin Einhorn, “Trump Opens Habitat of a Threatened Owl to Timber Harvesting,” The New York Times, January 13, 2021.
6. “Northern Spotted Owl,” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, last accessed August 9, 2021.