Press Release

Contact: Aran O'Carroll - (604) 685-5475, cell (604) 328 1633
Peter Lee - (780)451-9260, cell (780) 914-6241
Dr. Peter Hodum - (562)985 4693

Report Predicts the Extinction of the Spotted Owl in Canada

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, September 17, 2002 - A report entitled Logging to Extinction: The Last Stand of the Northern Spotted Owl in Canada, released today by Global Forest Watch Canada and Forest Watch of British Columbia predicts the extinction of the northern spotted owl in Canada in ten years if present logging trends continue and identifies continued logging of owl habitat as the biggest threat to its survival.

There are currently fewer than twenty-five breeding pairs of spotted owls estimated to be left in south-western British Columbia, the northernmost range of the owl in North America.  Historically, there were estimated to be over 500 spotted owls in Canada.

“The spotted owl is a forest dependent species which is reliant upon old-growth forests for roosting, nesting and foraging”, said Dr. Peter Hodum, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at California State University-Long Beach and principal author of the report.  “The precipitous decline in the Canadian spotted owl population has been paralleled by the fragmentation and isolation of British Columbia’s old-growth forests.  The spotted owl population in Canada has declined sharply, by at least forty-nine percent, between 1992 and 2001, and estimates are that only thirty percent of the spotted owl’s original forest habitat remains.”

“The spotted owl may not exist in Canada in ten years if we continue to log its old-growth forest habitat,” says Aran O’Carroll, executive director, Forest Watch of British Columbia.  “Despite the precipitous decline in the spotted owl population in Canada, we recently uncovered approximately 280 logging plans for the continued logging of spotted owl habitat in Canada.”  The report reveals that the provincial government continues to allow logging in spotted owl habitat against the recommendations of its own agency biologists.

“In the effort to save Canada’s endangered forest-dependent species, we should be making preservation of suitable forest habitat a high priority” said Peter Lee, national coordinator of Global Forest Watch Canada, “as the availability of suitable habitat is often one of the few environmental variables affecting these species that humans can easily control.”

The report follows a British Columbia Supreme Court decision, August 29, 2002, in which conservationists challenged logging in owl habitat.  The court found that despite a clear threat to the owls, it could not stop logging because there are no existing legal mechanisms that forbid the destruction of endangered species habitat in Canada.  The demise of the owl is an indicator of both the poor health of the ecosystems in which this species exists and the unwillingness of Canada’s federal and provincial governments to protect endangered species.

“With the decline of spotted owls continuing in the U.S., the conservation of all populations throughout the historical range is critical because it helps maintain the full range of genetic diversity within the subspecies.  Genetic diversity is essential as it affects the potential for populations to respond over time to changing environmental conditions.  Thus, B.C.’s owls may contribute unique adaptations critical to the survival of the subspecies as a whole,” said Dr. Hodum.

Learn more about Global Forest Watch Canada.