even though it could take hundreds of
years for suitable habitat to re-grow.
“In B.C. it’s still completely legal to
log a spotted owl nest as long as the
owl is not in the nest,” Hobbs says.
Recovery efforts are hampered
because of a provincial government
decision that there be no net loss to
timber revenues in any proposed
future management areas for spotted
owls, says Hobbs.
As a postdoctoral student, conser-
vation scientist Dominick DellaSala
hiked through old-growth rainforests
in the Pacific Northwest, hooting in the
hopes of getting a call back. In B.C.
today, he says, that’s next to impos-
sible. “We’ve put them in the ICU of
captive breeding. You’re down to the
last few and you can’t really make a mis-
take. If you do, that’s it, they’re gone.”
DellaSala likens the spotted owl to
the quintessential canary in a coal mine.
The owl is an indicator of a “complex
ecosystem with all the parts that are in
jeopardy,” he says. “And we all depend
on that ecosystem for clean air, climate
security and clean water.”
An initial priority of the spotted owl
recovery strategy was to establish thetotal amount and distribution of recov-
ery habitat. The definition of critical
habitat was deemed to be “urgent.”
More than one decade later, critical
habitat has still not been identified.
Environmental lawyer Kegan Pepper-
Smith, who specializes in at-risk spe-
cies, called the delay “absolutely
shocking, especially considering it’s
universally known that the biggest
threat to the spotted owl is habitat
destruction in old-growth forests.”
“We need a reassessment of the way
we prioritize timber supply of old-
growth forests and the relation to pro-
tecting these species that have relied
on this habitat for millennia,” says
Pepper-Smith.
DellaSala credits the spotted owl
with teaching him an important lesson
in life as he spent time climbing nest
trees, examining what the owls ate,
and learning about old-growth rain-
forests: that humans are part of eco-
systems and depend on them.
“They’re one of a kind, they’re
remarkable,” he says. “It just saddens
me when we don’t appreciate life.”Humble Pie
Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.
JESSE JACKSONHumility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.
C.S. LEWIS© 2018, SARAH COX. FROM “KEEPERS OF THE SPOTTED OWL,” BY SARAH COX, THE NARWHAL (NOVEMBER 1, 2018),
THENARWHAL.CAreader’s digest
90 may 2020