Sunday, February 13, 2011

After the big wildfires went through Yellowstone

there was video on the news of park rangers gathering cones off trees so they could plant the seeds in Yellowstone and doing other such things, and I wondered why, if we're supposed to leave Nature alone to go its way, they were interfering in this manner?

Now, having torn up the timber industry in the name of the spotted owl,
The threatened bird's numbers continue to decline in Washington, Oregon and Northern California.

After two decades of intense legal and political battles, the Obama administration is due this month to offer its last-ditch plan to save the spotted owl from extinction.

All indications are that it will propose shot-gunning hundreds if not thousands of barred owls, an East Coast cousin that has invaded spotted owl territory and is pushing the meeker bird out of the best habitat.
So now they're planning a MASSACRE, I SAY!!! of barred owls to 'save' the spotted... I guess to enviroweenies one species is much more valuable than the other. Which is another interesting point, because we're not talking about a non-native invasive species here. Something else, too:
Breeding habitats are dense woods across Canada, the eastern United States, and south to Mexico;[1] in recent years it has spread to the western United States. Recent studies show suburban neighborhoods can be ideal habitat for barred owls. Using transmitters, scientists found that populations increased faster in the suburban settings than in old growth forest. The main danger to owls in suburban settings is from cars. The increased offspring offset the death rate due to impacts from cars and disease.[3]
Now, since the reason behind the destruction of the logging industry was 'to protect the old-growth forest the spotted owl must have'... doesn't really add up, does it?

1 comment:

SordidPanda said...

While the spotted owl was used as a scapegoat for cutting back logging federal lands (why the heck does the fed have lands inside the states anyways?) it doesn't negate the fact that the number of logs taken during the 80's and early 90's were way to high to sustain forever.

Hopefully we'll get some real timber management experts who understand wildlife management too. Otherwise it will be another set of eco-hippies trying out one failed idea after another until the birds are dead and only Wearhauser and Simpson remain in the PacNW.