Endangered Northern Spotted Owl example essay topic

Introduction and History: The Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis carina) was first sighted in the 1860's by a Hungarian immigrant named John X'antus de Vesey. The owl's habitats cover the costal mountain ranges from southern British Columbia to the central part of California. Other subspecies include the Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentailis lucida), and the California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentailis occidentailis). The Spotted Owl is a nocturnal, woodland owl with dark colored feathers, a round head, and dark brown eyes.

The owl earned its name from the distinctive white spots covering its chest, and less noticeable spots on its wing, head, and tail. The owls are typically placid and reluctant to fly, allowing humans to get fairly close. But, usually roosting near the trunk of the tree, the owls colors provide excellent camouflaged against the tree trunk. The owl's average adult size is 18 inches for males and 19 inches for females, with a wingspan of 42 to 43 inches. As a nocturnal animal, the Spotted Owl hunts mostly at night. The owl's diet includes mainly flying squirrels and wood rats, but also the occasional gopher, rabbit, or hare.

In the summer, the owl's major diet is deer mice and voles. The Spotted Owl is also known to eat snakes, crickets, beetles, and moths, as well as the random camper's leftovers. Beginning around the age of two or three, the Spotted Owl breeds annually between March and September. The Spotted Owl pair is typical of a post-modern American husband and wife. The female does all incubation while the male delivers all the food. The young learn to fly at about 6 weeks and are catching their own food by week 9 or 10.

The families remain loosely connected during the first summer, but disperse in the fall. Though the mortality rate of juveniles is 60 to 96%, the adults have been known to live as old as 21 years. Predators of the Spotted Owl include of the Great Horn Owl, and the Red-tailed hawk. The Northern Spotted Owl's habitat consists of dense, multi-layer forested areas dominated by Douglas Firs, typically old growth forests (over 200 years old). The owl has also been known to nest in older second-growth forests (70-140 years old), as well as mature hardwood forests containing cottonwoods, alders, oaks, sycamores, and other firs. The owl tends to like an uneven, multi-layered canopy, as well as shaded mountain slopes and canyons.

Biological / Ecological: The destruction of this physical habitat-by the leveling of old growth forests for industrial and residential development, has left the Northern Spotted Owl with practically no room in which to live and breed. An example of this is that only 5% of the original forests in the 48 coterminous states, i. e., those forests that were present at the time of the first European settlement, are still standing. And in the Pacific Northwest, only about 10% of the old growth forests remain intact. In 1991, Federal District Judge William Dwyer banned timber harvest sales on 24 million acres in 17 National Forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. The law stated that federally owned lands serving as primary habitat for the Spotted Owl are no longer available to logging companies.

According to Investor's Daily, "Estimates of logging jobs that were to be lost varied from a minimum of 7,000 to as many as 44,500". The ban was imposed until the US Forest Service could provide assurance that logging would not harm the endangered Northern Spotted Owl. Another problem currently taking place is that the remaining Northern Spotted Owls are starting to interbreed with the Barred Owl, which migrated to the Northwest from the eastern United States. Since there are only a few Spotted Owls left (in perspective to the rest of the population of other species of owls who are not endangered) it could simply mean that the spotted owl could interbreed its way out of existence.

Government Implications: Due to the decrease in population of the northern spotted owl, the species was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in July of 1990. It was determined that the survival of this species depended upon maintaining adequate, well distributed nesting, roosting, and foraging (NRF) habitat. These old growth forest habitats were disappearing because of timber harvest activities, as well as events including fire, volcanic eruption, and wind storms. The species is also threatened by barred owls, which compete with the spotted owl for the same habitat.

In 1994, the Clinton administration approved the Northwest Forest Plan, which covered twenty four and a half million acres of federal land in Washington, Oregon, and California. Logging restrictions were placed on about eighty one percent of that land. This did not have a positive effect on the timber industry, and workers were not happy. A year after the owl was placed on the ESA list, 2500 timber workers and families rallied in Olympia, WA. during which a ruling was passed that halted 171 timber sales in the northwest. As part of the Northwest Forest Plan, certain amounts of timber sales were allowed, but due to lawsuits and studies of old growth dependant species, timber sales have yet to come close to previous levels.

For example, in 2001, 28.1 million board feet of timber was sold, but 382 million had been scheduled to sell that year, according to The Olympian. That is a minuscule seven percent of actual sales compared allowed levels. To date, the effects from the Spotted Owl's placement on the endangered species list has been devastating for the timber industry, as it has eliminated thousands of jobs and has closed dozens of mills. This topic has recently gained attention when in April of 2002, timber industry groups sued the US Fish and Wildlife Services, calling for status reviews of the spotted owl. Status reviews are required every five years for species listed as endangered, but these reviews had not been conducted. In April of 2003, a settlement was reached between the federal government and plaintiffs, requiring complete status reviews by April of 2004.

With all of the timber regulations and recovery efforts over the past decade, the Spotted Owl has indeed prospered. When the owl was labeled as threatened, there were about 1500 pairs. By 1995, the population had grown to 5000 pairs. The status reviews will give more information when completed. But at this point it is known that the owl is still struggling in the state of Washington. Recent studies in the state have shown a fifty to sixty percent decrease in population from ten years ago.

According to a source from Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, the owl population is doing the worst in the state of Washington, to the point where the owl could be lost. Summary and Response: The owl's decline in population, due both to human and natural causes, has posed a serious question to stewards and law-makers. We are forced to ask, what are we to do? Since humans are partially responsible for the owl's endangerment, it is logical to think that humans are also responsible for righting the wrongs they " ve caused. But is it possible to right the wrongs? Are humans capable of preventing an animal from becoming extinct?

In the case of the Bald Eagle, the answer is yes. But how much sacrifice must be made for this cause? The last 13 years have made it obvious that fighting the owl's extinction does not come without cost. However it is possible to limit this cost. Through extensive research and continued studies, humans have the ability to gain more accurate and concise information about the Spotted Owl's struggle for life. Having this knowledge will enable humans to impose more effective implications.

If such implications prove to be more helpful in the owl's recovery, agencies will be able to trim back regulations, allowing industries room to breathe. The Christian response is no different from the secular response. God has gifted man kind with abundance of resources and wildlife. It is our duty, as stewards, to respect and maintain both. This does not mean that God has given us a green light to quick, and often times, irrational decisions claimed to be justified in God's purpose for creation.

It does, however, suggest that our duty is also to be responsible and prayerful in the decision making process. For the blind cannot lead the blind. We, as Christians, must be mindful that with God's creation of the trees and wildlife, came his creation of the intellectual man. We must make use of our God-given intellect so as to deal responsibly and effectively with God's creation.