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Trump Administration Slashes Imperiled Spotted Owls' Habitat

Associated Press

   PORTLAND, OREGON - The Trump administration said Wednesday that it
   would slash millions of acres of protected habitat designated for the
   imperiled northern spotted owl in Oregon, Washington state and Northern
   California, much of it in prime timber locations in Oregon's coastal
   ranges.

   Environmentalists immediately decried the move and accused the U.S.
   Fish and Wildlife Service under President Donald Trump of taking a
   parting shot at protections designed to help restore the species in
   favor of the timber industry.

   The tiny owl is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act
   and was rejected for an upgrade to endangered status last year by the
   federal agency, despite losing nearly 4% of its population annually.

   "This revision guts protected habitat for the northern spotted owl by
   more than a third. It's Trump's latest parting gift to the timber
   industry and another blow to a species that needs all the protections
   it can get to fully recover," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species
   director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

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