The federal government has a plan to kill up to 450,000 barred owls across Washington, Oregon, and California in an attempt to save the native northern spotted owl from extinction.
The scale of this plan is vast, the timeline stretches three decades, and the fallout has scrambled political loyalties from Capitol Hill to timber towns and tribal forests. One Senate bid to stop the program has already failed, keeping the lethal-removal strategy in motion, POLITICO reports.
The plan targets up to 450,000 barred owls over three decades.
Why Barred Owls Are in the Crosshairs
Barred owls expanded westward over the last century and now outcompete spotted owls for territory and prey. Wildlife officials argue that without aggressive action, the smaller, habitat-specialist spotted owl will continue to slide. The government’s Barred Owl Management Strategy authorizes specialists to lure barred owls with recorded calls and then shoot them; in places where firearms are prohibited, capture and euthanasia are allowed, according to USA TODAY. A bipartisan House letter warned the price tag could average roughly $3,000 per owl—about $1.35 billion over 30 years—even though federal documents don’t fix a specific budget.
An Unlikely Alliance Forms—and Fractures
The politics around the cull don’t follow the usual script. Republican Sen. John Kennedy led the push to overturn the plan, decrying federal “hubris,” while some animal-welfare groups cheered him on. The resolution failed, 72–25, leaving the Biden-era rule in place with support from the current administration as well, POLITICO reports.
At the same time, a separate and counterintuitive partnership has emerged in the Pacific Northwest: timber interests aligning with conservationists who support the cull, the Los Angeles Times reports. Logging groups say that if the plan is scuttled, Endangered Species Act consultations tied to the spotted owl could freeze harvests on millions of BLM-managed acres in western Oregon, dragging out sales and local revenues.
Removals focus on Washington, Oregon, and California forests.
Who’s Fighting to Stop the Kill Plan
Opposition is not limited to Congress. Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy have sued in federal court, alleging the government cut corners under the National Environmental Policy Act and ignored workable alternatives. Their case argues the program is unworkable because new barred owls will recolonize areas as quickly as shooters clear them, USA TODAY reports. The groups reiterated their objections after the Senate vote, calling it a “billion-dollar” mistake.
Who’s Backing Lethal Removal—and Why
Many environmental organizations that have fought for old-growth habitat now back the cull as an emergency triage measure for a collapsing native species. Tribal voices carry weight here as well. The Intertribal Timber Council and the Hoopa Valley Tribe have argued that barred owls threaten a suite of culturally and ecologically important species, and that controlled removals have coincided with a stabilization of spotted owls on tribal lands, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Wildlife biologists are split on long-term efficacy. Some say removals can open habitat corridors for spotted owls; others warn barred owls reproduce and recolonize faster than agents can remove them. According to the Cowboy State Daily, roughly 4,500 have been killed since 2009.
Specialists lure owls with recorded calls, then shoot them.
The Habitat Question Looms Over Everything
Even as the cull moves forward, the U.S. Forest Service is restarting a rewrite of the Northwest Forest Plan, the foundational rulebook for 25 million acres of public forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. Environmental groups worry a rewrite emphasizing “commercial timber opportunities” and narrowing “survey and manage” protections could remove the very safeguards spotted owls need to recover, OPB reports. The agency plans a new draft next fall and a 90-day comment period.
That collision—between a lethal program meant to buy time and a policy overhaul that could reshape habitat protections—will determine whether spotted owls rebound or vanish from much of their range. Supporters of the cull say removals trigger more ESA guardrails as spotted owl numbers stabilize, ultimately protecting more forest. Critics say killing one owl to help another while easing logging pressure is a shell game, not a conservation plan. The Senate vote keeps the program alive; the coming forest-policy draft will test whether habitat remains robust enough for the native owl to use any reprieve it gets.
What Happens Next
For now, lethal removals continue under federal supervision. The courts will decide whether the NEPA challenge has merit. Congress could still intervene, but the most recent vote wasn’t close, POLITICO reports. In the background, the Forest Service’s rewrite will invite public comment, giving tribes, scientists, timber workers, animal-welfare advocates, and local communities a direct say in how the region’s forests—and its owls—are managed.
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