OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK – Federal wildlife managers appear to be sticking to the plan to kill hundreds of thousands of invasive barred owls in the Pacific Northwest that threaten native spotted owls with extinction.
A little bigger and a lot more aggressive, barred owls are outcompeting the spotted owl. Now, after 15 years of review and study, wildlife managers say they see no choice but to reduce the number of barred owls in some areas of Oregon, Washington and northern California where, hopefully, spotted owls can get a foothold.
The control program, outlined in a final Environmental Impact Statement announced Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is intended to result in the annual removal of less than one-half of 1% of the current North American barred owl population — but it’s still a lot of birds: as many as a half-million barred owls, over the next 30 years.
It’s not a complicated plan, nor a pretty one. Death by shotgun. But the plan does have rules.
Under the program, trained professionals would be deployed in about half of the areas where invasive barred owls are found in the northern spotted owl’s range. Hunting by the general public would not be allowed. Shooters are to call barred owls into close range to confirm the species’ identity, and shoot. Lead shot will not be used.
To implement the program, F&W would designate interested tribes, federal and state agencies, or landowners to shoot the owls. The “removal specialists,” as the agency calls them, would have to meet training requirements set by the agency and monitor and report results.
In western Washington, officials have indicated that barred owl removal could potentially take place within the entire boundaries of Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest, as well as the state lands adjacent to them.
The statement says the soonest any large-scale implementation of the program is likely to begin is next spring.
(Photo of barred owl courtesy of US Dept. of Fish and Wildlife)