A controversial plan to kill one owl species to save another has cleared a major hurdle.
The full Senate on Wednesday rejected a Republican effort to stop the culling of up to 450,000 barred owls in the Pacific Northwest over three decades, ending a saga that has produced some strange political bedfellows.
This is a major victory for environmentalists and federal wildlife officials who want to protect the northern spotted owl, which has been squeezed out by its larger, more aggressive cousins. In recent weeks, we have received information that canceling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program could hinder timber sales.
But it’s a blow to an equally unorthodox coalition that includes right-wing politicians and animal rights activists who say culling is too expensive and inhumane. The Trump administration enlisted the help of Republican lawmakers to disrupt partisan tensions.
Conservative Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana called for an end to the owl culling program, which could be used to overturn recent rules by federal agencies.
Kennedy said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, whose portfolio includes timber production, recently called him and told him to abandon the resolution. This month, he said halting culling would jeopardize timber production goals set by the Trump administration.
But Kennedy was not persuaded.
President Kennedy said on the Senate floor, “The Secretary should have called someone who was interested in his opinion, because I think he’s wrong.” “I think he and other members of the administrative state at the Home Office decided to play God.”
Side by side with a photo of the owl and clumsy cartoon hunter Elmer Fudd, President Kennedy praised the owl’s “soulful eyes” and “incredibly soft” plumage. However, he acknowledged that they are better hunters than spotted owls. Spotted owls from eastern North America compete with spotted owls for food and shelter in their home territory.
In the end, the resolution passed without any votes from three members. Almost all who voted for the resolution were Republicans, but many more voted against it. The Fish and Wildlife Service approved the culling of barred owls last year under the Biden administration.
“This is a huge relief because this was one of the biggest threats to the northern spotted owl’s survival for many years,” said Tom Wheeler, executive director of the Conservation Information Center. “We’ve crossed this hurdle. I’m not saying there aren’t other hurdles and difficult roads ahead, but this feels good.”
Wheeler described the failed effort as a “nuclear threat.” Had the resolution passed, the Fish and Wildlife Service would not have been able to pursue similar regulations without explicit Congressional approval.
Wheeler is now calling for the owl culling and federal funding to support it, and said he and his allies will continue their efforts.
Animal rights activists like Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, are disappointed.
“What this means is that not only are spotted owls at extreme risk from mass shootings, but so are spotted owls and old-growth forests at risk from chainsaws,” Pacelle said of the failed resolution.
Pacer’s camp vowed to continue the fight. The lawsuit they filed against the federal government last fall is moving forward. And they will try to keep money flowing into the program.
In May, federal authorities in California awarded grants totaling more than $1.1 million, including the lethal removal of barred owls from more than 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
But there are other barred owl removal projects in the Golden State, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A $4.3 million grant issued by the state agency will support barred owl removal in the northwestern part of the state, along with other research. Another grant issued by NASA to the university involves the removal of great barred owls in California and the creation of tools to prioritize areas in need of raptor management.
It’s unclear how or if the project, which is now in its 31st day, is having an impact, Tira said in an email.
