Salem, Oregon – Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden spoke out against a Senate measure that would have overturned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan for managing the barred owl, a species that could endanger the Northern Spotted Owl’s survival.
The senators strongly supported saving the Northern Spotted Owl, calling it an important and iconic aspect of the Pacific Northwest’s ecosystem. They stressed that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s approach was the result of more than ten years of research and working together. They said that the plan carefully looks at how to control the alien barred owl population, which has moved into the same woodlands and pushed out the native spotted owl.
Merkley and Wyden stressed that Tribes and local stakeholders were consulted during the plan’s development. They said that the plan strikes a good mix between scientific evidence and getting people involved in the community. They say that good wildlife management should be based on working together and using scientific evidence, not politics or short-term goals.
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Senators are unhappy with what legislative Republicans were trying to do with the legislative Review Act to stop the Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan. They said that doing something like this could hurt years of local cooperation and success in conservation. They said that letting national political forces override solutions based on local knowledge would hurt environmental protections across the whole region.
Merkley and Wyden both said again that they will make sure the Barred Owl Management Strategy was carried out. They said they would fight any future actions that jeopardize the recovery of old-growth ecosystems that are important for the Northern Spotted Owl’s survival, such as attempts to reduce forest safeguards or cut down more trees.
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The two senators agreed that protecting the spotted owl is not just about saving one species; it’s also about keeping the forests of the Pacific Northwest healthy and intact. They promise to keep fighting for management decisions based on science and against outside efforts that put politics ahead of conservation.
