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From: "Terry Morse" <morset@ccmail.orst.edu>
Message-Id: <9511018178.AA817842034@ccmail.orst.edu>
To: consbio@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Northern Spotted Owl Habitat

>My understanding of the spotted owl/second growth forest issue
>is that as "old-growth" forest dwindles in acreage (and thus in
>necessary resources), owls start searching elsewhere for
>suitable nesting and foraging habitat.  Furthermore, the
>remaining habitat cannot support the existing number of owls, so
>some are forced out.  The fact that some owls end up in second
>growth does not mean that it is prefered habitat.

>Christopher P. Dunn, PhD

I have read that there are some second growth forests with old
growth characteristics (lots of standing snags and down woody
debris, uneven age structure, etc.) in northern California where
Spotted Owls do reasonably well.  The late Dixy Lee Ray and her
student, Rush Limbaugh, among others, have seized on these
atypical (for the NW USA) second growth systems to discredit the
notion that Spotted Owls require old growth to prosper.  I think
that this is discussed in Elliot Norse's _Ancient Forests of the
Pacific Northwest_.

The business about Spotted Owls living on a K-Mart in Eugene,
Oregon, I saw attributed to Oregon's disgraced ex-Senator, Bob
Packwood, in _The Oregonian_ newspaper a long time ago. 
According to news reports this morning, Packwood has not ruled
out a political comeback.

Terry Morse
morset@ccmail.orst.edu

.