U.S. PROTECTS MEXICAN OWL

COURT UPHOLDS PROTECTION

FOR ENDANGERED OWL’S HABITAT

A U.S. federal court has upheld protection of 8.6 million acres of critical habitat spread across Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado for the endangered Mexican spotted owl.

The Mexican spotted owl was listed as a threatened species in 1993, the result of timber management practices and habitat alteration. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated the critical habitat for the owl in 2004, but the designation was challenged by the Arizona Cattle Growers' Association, who alleged that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s critical habitat designation unlawfully included areas not occupied by the owls, and failed to account for the economic impact of the designation. The court rejected all the Cattle Growers’ arguments.

Critical habitat is defined as "areas of land and water with features essential to the conservation of a threatened or endangered species." Critical habitat provides protection for endangered species by requiring federal agencies to ensure that any projects they fund, permit, or carry out do not jeopardize the existence of endangered species or adversely modify their habitat. In the case of the Mexican spotted owl, critical habitat ensures that Forest Service logging does not drive the owl to extinction or limit their recovery.

Shoutout to The Center for Biological Diversity for intervening in court in support of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to the nonprofit Western Environmental Law Center who represented them, and to the federal court for upholding the critical habitat designation. Shoutout to all who gave a hoot! (these puns are weak, I know)

Sources, resources, discourses:

1. ENN – article
2. Center for Biological Diversity – press release
3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – website
4. Federal court ruling
5. Wikimedia Commons – photo