State starts spotted owl hearings
May 25th, 2006 - 6:27am
(Olympia) - The first of four public hearings on the
spotted owl start today.
The state Forest Practices Board will hold four public hearings
around the state on proposed amendments intended to expand
protection for the owl. The first hearing is in Kelso.
Three others will be held during the first two weeks of June in
Forks, Yakima and Mt. Vernon. The board could make a decision on
August Ninth to make the rules permanent.
One rule imposes a temporary moratorium on the practice of
"decertifying" spotted owl sites until June 30th 2007. That's
when a federal recovery plan for the owl is expected. The state has
opened thousands of acres of forest lands to logging by
decertifying so-called "owl circles," a radius of nearly two
miles around sites where owls have been found.
Wildlife conservationists blame decades of clearcutting in
old-growth forests, the owls' primary habitat, for the birds'
decline.
Timber industry officials say logging can't be blamed for the
owl's current predicament, citing the barred owl, loss of habitat
due to wildfires and harvesting, and the West Nile virus as
contributors to the decline.
Email This Story
LATEST NEWS ITEMS:
