Federal agency plans to cull 450,000 barred owls to favor another species

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is keeping its eye on the barred owl, hoping that action to cull the species could save its close genetic relative.

In a final plan released Wednesday, the agency proposes killing up to 450,000 barred owls over 30 years, despite opposition from some animal welfare activists and Washington state’s top public lands official.

The plan, released in a final environmental impact statement, or EIS, is designed to prevent the extinction of the spotted owl, a threatened species that is being pushed out of its native range by the slightly larger and faster-breeding barred owl.

“We’re at a crossroads, we’ve now developed the science and analyzed everything,” said Bridget Moran, deputy supervisor for the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Service. “We need to manage the barred owl. We have time to protect the spotted owl, but that window is closing.”

The barred owl, common in the eastern United States, is not native to the West Coast. It probably arrived only through European settlers who spread westward. The species was first discovered in the spotted owl range of Washington state in the 1970s.

The recent spread of the barred owl has had a significant impact on the spotted owl population in West Coast forests. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that the population has declined by 75 percent over the past two decades.

The wildlife agency’s final proposal calls for teams of professionals to broadcast a “territorial call” to attract barred owls and then shoot them with shotguns. Public hunting of the birds would not be allowed, the proposal says.

The agency believes spotted owls will slowly recover if they face less competition from barred owls. In an experimental study funded by the Fish and Wildlife Service and published in 2021, spotted owls were 10% more likely to survive in areas where barred owls had been eliminated.

Robin Brown, a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who leads the agency’s barred owl strategy, said the management plan will not completely eliminate barred owls from the West Coast.

“Both species will remain,” Brown said, adding that the program would eliminate only about 0.5 percent of the nation’s barred owls.

The proposal to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls has received a mixture of criticism and support.

“Culling hundreds of thousands of barred owls is a senseless and cruel management measure,” said Jennifer Best, wildlife law director for Friends of Animals, a Connecticut-based nonprofit animal rights group that has opposed the Fish and Wildlife Service on the issue. “We will review the final environmental impact statement and the final decision, once it is issued, to determine whether we will pursue legal action.”

Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz questioned how much the plan would cost and whether it would have unintended consequences, calling it an “extreme solution” in a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

“There is no precedent for a successful wildlife control program of this magnitude. While USFWS has not estimated the cost of the plan, conservative estimates from outside sources put the cost at $235,000,000 over a 30-year horizon,” Franz wrote, adding that she feared the plan was “unworkable.”

(The cost estimate Franz refers to comes from a retired Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who is skeptical of the plan.)

Moran said the costs of the program depend heavily on the agencies and land managers participating and cannot yet be estimated.

The Oregon Department of Forestry supported the final proposal, saying in a public comment that the plan recognized the “seriousness of the proposed action and acknowledges the complex threat” of barred owls.

The Fish and Wildlife Service can issue a formal report of its decision within a month. The barred owl is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Fish and Wildlife Service would have to apply for a permit of its own to begin killing barred owls.