Jon and Tweeters,

In my professional opinion, local Audubon chapters, etc., ought to be
in favor of a limited Barred Owl control program if it would help
to increase the numbers of Spotted Owls, which it almost certainly
would. It is highly likely that Barred Owls are present in WA, OR,
and CA only as a result of man-made habitat changes in central
British Columbia (widespread logging), which allowed them to
expand their range into areas west of the Rocky Mountains where
they did not originally occur.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Anderson / Chaney" <festuca at olywa.us>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 7:20 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Barred Owl "thinning" question


I don't wish to open a "political" discussion on Tweeters, but was wondering
if the local Audubon groups, etc., are addressing this?

Thanks for any info,
Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Wash
festuca AT olywa.us

AP Story:
Feds propose selectively killing cousins of threatened spotted owls

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A few hundred aggressive cousins of the threatened
northern spotted owl may be rubbed out by government agents with shotguns
under a federal plan proposed Thursday.

The spotted owl was listed as threatened 17 years ago, but its numbers
continue to dwindle through much of its range, federal officials said as
they proposed a new plan to prevent them from dying out.

The barred owls have crowded the spotted owls out of prime habitat and, in
some cases, attacked them.

< snip >