HI:
FYI

--
Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way!"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 10:54:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Stan Moore <stangabboon at yahoo.com>
To: raptor-conservation at yahoogroups.com
Cc: ukbirdnet at dcs.bbk.ac.uk
Subject: [UKBN] CORRECTION to press reports of barred owl shooting program

Friends --

Last week I forwarded a CNN news report, also reported
widely in other media, of an alleged planned shooting
program as part of an experimental study of the
impacts of barred owls on spotted owls. The report
added that this program could be expanded and
ultimately kill thousands of barred owls in order to
protect endangered spotted owls. After posting that
report, I heard quickly from a Federal biologist who
told me in no uncertain terms that the news report was
incorrect. So, I did some fact checking and learned
the following:


There is NO FEDERAL PROGRAM OR PLAN TO SHOOT BARRED
OWLS. In fact, I was told by a spotted owl expert
that probably no spotted owl biologist in the recent
meeting thought such a plan would work.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED was that one spotted owl
biologist became aware of a project by the California
Academy of Sciences to collect some museum specimens
for their collection, and the spotted owl biologist
made an attempt to seek cooperation from the
California Academy of Sciences in doing their
collecting in a particular study area, so that spotted
owl biologists could monitor that activity and learn
from it.

In other words, the collection of barred owls was not
intended to be a management activity when the permits
were issued, but an alert spotted owl biologist who
learned of it made arrangements to allow the barred
owl collection program to increase its potential
usefulness by incorporating it in the study of
ecological impacts of barred owls in spotted owl
habitat.

I might also add some other points I learned in my
fact checking with a spotted owl expert. Apparently,
barred owls are thriving in all phases of native
habitat, including pristine old growth forests, which
are considered the natural habitat of spotted owls.
This infers that changes in forestry practices in
order to promote more old growth may not impact the
relationship between barred owls and spotted owls,
since barred owls are able to thrive in pristine old
growth.

This creates quite a dilemma, and it appears that
barred owl range expansion may be irreversible and we
may have to watch for the next couple of hundred years
to see if spotted owls and barred owls can reach any
sort of equilibrium in local areas where perhaps local
conditions will favor spotted owls over barred owls.

After my fact checking session, I have to believe that
this complex situation is not easily resolved by
management activities and we cannot predict how it
will turn out. Hopefully, spotted owls will persist
at some reduced level of abundance even in the
presence of barred owls in newly or recently colonized
additions to historic barred owl distribution.

It is regrettable that the news media incorrectly
characterized the situation regarding the collection
of barred owls by the California Academy of Sciences.
I still do not know why it is necessary to shoot
barred owls for museum collections, but that is
another matter. I do not believe that there is any
planned attempt to use barred owl shooting as a
management tool. I apologize to all who may be
impacted by my publicizing of the erroneous CNN news
report on this matter.


Stan Moore San Geronimo, CA
stangabboon at yahoo.com





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