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FLASH - The journal Science reports on criticism of the proposed northern spotted owl recovery plan, including analysis by our executive director of science, Dr. Dellasala.
Conservation Policy Initiative
NORTHERN SPOTTED OWL RECOVERY PLAN
The iconic Northern Spotted Owl is a symbol of the plight of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest.
The National Center is working with the Northwest Congressional delegation, scientists, and conservation groups to request new legislation to protect the old-growth forests that the owl, salmon, and our clean water depend upon. New legislation has become increasingly vital to the owl's continued survival, if only as a critical counterweight to the administration's interference in the scientific underpinnings of the development of a credible Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan.
Recovery Plan History
The Northern Spotted Owl was listed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1990 following a determination that the species was threatened with imminent extinction due to extensive logging of old-growth forests and inadequate protections.
In 1992, the US Fish & Wildlife Service completed, but never approved a draft recovery plan as required under the Endangered Species Act. The incoming Clinton administration assumed that the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan would suffice as a de facto recovery plan for the owl and hundreds of other old-growth dependent species.
In 2003, two lawsuits were filed - one by Seattle Audubon requiring the US Fish & Wildlife Service to complete a recovery plan and the other by the timber industry requiring the agency to re-evaluate the owls' critical habitat needs.
Recent Recovery Planning
In June 2006, Dominick DellaSala (our Executive Director of Conservation Science & Policy Programs) was appointed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to serve on a multi-stakeholder recovery team tasked with completing a spotted owl recovery plan. The recovery team was made up of federal, state, and private land managers and included two representatives from conservation groups (the National Center and Audubon Washington) as well as from the timber industry.
In September 2006, the recovery team completed a draft plan that was anchored, in part, in the Northwest Forest Plan network of late-successional reserves; although, at the time the team could not reach agreement on specific habitat protection provisions to be included in the recovery plan.
Rather than send the draft recovery plan out for scientific peer review to resolve these disagreements, the draft recovery plan was rejected by high ranking officials within the Bush administration as not "flexible" enough to allow the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to push through forest plan revisions that reduced old-growth protections. Instead, the recovery team was ordered by DC officials to produce a plan that was not based on a reserve network - despite the fact there is no scientific support for this changed approach.
In May 2007, the National Center published a critique of the politically-driven draft recovery plan that identified eight primary deficiencies. In addition, there is scientific consensus that the recovery plan was not based on the best available science. Independent peer review commissioned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and a separate review by The Wildlife Society both concluded that the plan was scientifically flawed and needed to be redone.
Congressional Oversight Hearings
As a recovery team member, the National Center objected repeatedly to the political entanglements cast by the Bush 
Administration. On May 9, 2007, we testified before the House Natural Resources Committee regarding "Endangered Species Act Implementation: Science or Politics" - and responded to "follow-up questions for the record" to tell the story about how the administration manipulated the recovery planning process.
The hearing was chaired by Congressman Nick Rahall, II, who expressed his concern about attempts by administration officials to weaken the Act's implementation. He observed in his opening remarks that "What we are seeing here - if we could actually see behind the cloak of secrecy surrounding the Interior Department - is a complete disregard for the very science that has equipped us to be responsible stewards of this Earth with which we have been blessed."
This subject was revisted by Congress again on July 31, during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing regarding "Crisis in Confidence: The Political Influence of the Bush Administration on Agency Science and Decision Making." The National Center submitted additional invited testimony during that hearing that provided further documentation of political meddling in the science of the draft recovery plan.
Our testimony reiterated our recommendation that the current draft plan be scrapped, and that a new independent scientific panel be assembled to prepare a scientifically credible plan. We also noted that several related forest management decisions tiered to the owl recovery plan are pending, including a reduction in critical habitat and a revision to BLM's western Oregon managment plans. We suggested that these decisions be put on hold until a credible owl plan is developed.
As a follow up to the hearings in the House Natural Resources Committee, Congressman Jay Inslee and 22 other members of Congress as well as over 100 independent scientists called on the Bush Administration to scrap the owl recovery plan. The failure to base the plan on the best available science and the fact the draft may have been interferred with by high ranking officials within the Bush Administration were identified as particularly objectionable. The National Center is especially grateful to Representative Inslee and the other congressional members for their bold leadership in calling for a "re-do" on the owl recovery plan and related proposals to rollback conservation protections in the Northwest Forest Plan.
Current Status of the Recovery Plan
The National Center and Audubon Washington commented extensively on the draft Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan last August. We identified 10 flaws in the draft recovery plan that deviate from the best available science and require immediate attention from the US Fish & Wildlife Service. The final recovery plan is scheduled for public release in late April 2008.
Our comments on the plan and congressional testimony, along with additional pressure from conservation partners, and congressional leadership from Representatives Jay Inslee, Peter DeFazio, and Senator Ron Wyden resulted in the initiation of two independent investigations by the Government Accountability Office and Interior Department Inspector General. Both investigative arms of government were asked by Congress to look into improper handling of the spotted owl recovery plan and the Inspector General is looking at additional cases involving administrative tampering with the science of endangered Species issues ranging from the bull trout to marbled murrelet, spotted owl, and sage grouse decisions, among others.
Through the combined leadership of Senator Wyden and Representatives DeFazio and Inslee, our congressional testimony, and additional work by the Endangered Species Coalition, American Lands Alliance, and the Society for Conservation Biology, a deep pattern of corruption within the Department of Interior has been exposed.
In the meantime, the administration continues to thumb its nose at Congress, announcing recently that it would outsource the recovery plan to a private firm. In doing so, the Bush administration continues to maneuver to deflect criticism about the extent to which the final plan is based on sound science - but has adopted a plan development process that suffers from severe uncertainties regarding procedural transparency. The National Center will continue to work with Congressional leadership and conservation partners in pushing for a scientifically credible recovery plan; even if success requires additional oversight hearings and investigations into administrative tampering with the science of endangered species management.
Photo of Northern Spotted Owl by J&K Hollingsworth - USFWS.
Photo of Dominick DellaSala by Caitland Love Hills - American Lands Alliance
