A rare owl found in the Los Padres National Forest is the focus of a lawsuit by a conservation group trying to save it from extinction.
"The California Spotted Owl is a medium-sized owl. It specializes on a few prey items like wood rats and flying squirrels," said Noah Greenwald, a biologist and Endangered Species Director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's an old growth specialist. It only lives in forests with big trees, with high canopies. We've lost most of these to logging and fire in the last century, and that's left the spotted owl in a precarious position."
Greenwald said the birds are found in the upper elevations of the national forest, where there are big trees. He talked about the threats they face.
"Loss of habitat is the biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction in the world. For the spotted owl, that loss of habitat is the loss of the old forest that they need to survive. It's happened through clear-cut logging, roads, and development. Fire was always a part of the forest. Owls were adapted to that to some degree. But with climate change, and high fire season getting longer, we've seen an increase in high-severity fire. That's really hard on their habitat."
Greenwald added that there’s a population of California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and one in the Los Padres National Forest. The size of the population in our region isn’t large, perhaps a few hundred owls at most.
The Center for Biological Diversity has been pushing for federal endangered species status for the owl for decades.
"We first petitioned to have them protected back in 2000," said Greenwald. "It eventually got denied based on changes in management in the Sierra Nevada. We've had to keep pushing, and finally, in 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to protect them under the Endangered Species Act. But it's failed to finalize those protections."
According to Greenwald, the Fish and Wildlife Service is dragging its feet on a decision. The proposal calls for endangered status for the owls in the region and threatened status for those in the Sierra Nevada. The suit calls for the federal agency to act on the proposal.
But, there’s a new wrinkle to the situation. With the Trump Administration making it clear that it wants to open more federal land to logging, Greenwald thinks it could be even tougher to get protections for the owls.
"The Trump Administration is just a disaster for endangered species. They've been gutting the Fish and Wildlife Service, forcing scientists out of the agency. They've cut funding. The agency was already struggling before this to meet its responsibilities to protect the nation's wildlife."
The conservation group hopes the lawsuit will spur the agency to make a decision.
Greenwald discussed the type of action he believes is necessary to save the owls from extinction.
"What's needed for the owls is more protection for the forest, and efforts to make our forests more resilient to fire," said Greenwald. "All of that takes effort and money. It's hard to picture that under the Trump Administration, unfortunately."
The Forest Service and the logging industry currently have some protections in place for the owls, but conservation groups say they aren’t enough.
There’s also another issue: In the Sierra Nevada, California Spotted Owls are being pushed out of their habitat by the nonnative barred owls. They haven’t been an issue in the Los Padres National Forest yet. But biologists say reducing the population of the barred owls is also a critical part of saving the California Spotted Owl from extinction.
