Date: 8/23/26 7:47 am From: Steve Hampton via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] GPS tracking study shows invasive barred owls crowding California forests where spotted owls nest
Now is a good time for an update on the supposed "plan to shoot 450,000"
Barred Owls. As I explained back in 2024, it's really a *permit *that
federal, state, local, and tribal agencies can obtain to target Barred Owls
in the vicinity of Spotted Owls. And it comes with no funding or personnel.
It's just a permit. They gotta pay for it themselves.
The 450,000 number appeared in the executive summary of the USFWS
programmatic permit, estimating the maximum number of owls that could
potentially be removed over 30 years. It was a ludicrously high estimate,
but the media ran with it.
In reality, shooting owls is labor intensive and can involve lots of
planning, closing trailheads, etc. Under both the early pilot studies and
currently, costs run about $2000 per owl removed, plus the loss of staff
time toward the effort.
Under this permit, Barred Owl removal is primarily happening in northwest
California, which is the front edge of the Barred Owl expansion. They
cobbled together funding from the state of Calif, the Hoopa Valley Tribe,
and the USDA and USFS. They've killed over 3,000 Barred Owls and are
monitoring the benefit to Spotted Owls. You can read their first
peer-reviewed paper here, which includes a map showing exactly where the
removals have taken place.
https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.13121 I think there will be follow-up papers focusing on Spotted Owls in the
area.
I'm not sure what's happening in Oregon - I think nothing (except more
logging of old growth).
In Washington, the Yakama Nation has just begun some limited Barred Owl
removal. I expect this to be quite limited, as their lands don't overlap
Spotted Owl habitat very much.
To date, no national park in Washington, no state park, not WDFW, no local
agency, and no other tribes are participating. The federal agencies, of
course, have lost staff and struggle to do their basic tasks.
all for now,
On Sun, Aug 23, 2026 at 1:28 AM Dan Reiff via Tweeters <
<tweeters...> wrote:
