Save at-risk owls by culling rivals? Tough choices in US Northwest.

In the 1990s, you couldn’t talk about logging in the Pacific Northwest without talking about the spotted owl. 

The medium-sized, dark-brown owl was at the center of a fierce conflict between the powerful timber industry and environmentalists trying to protect old-growth forests. The owl, which prefers such forests, was barreling toward extinction due to logging and other habitat destruction. 

Environmentalists fought a successful campaign that led to federal protection from logging for millions of acres of forest. But today the spotted owl’s population is still falling rapidly, with continued logging and larger wildfires sharing much of the blame.  

And there’s another culprit: the barred owl that is invading old-growth forests in Oregon, Washington, and California, putting it in scientists’