U.S. wildlife officials beginning next year will drastically scale up efforts to kill invasive barred owls that are crowding out imperiled native owls from West Coast forests, under a plan finalized Wednesday that faces challenges from barred owls returning after they’ve already been removed.
Trained shooters will target barred owls over 30 years across a maximum of about 23,000 square miles (60,000 square kilometers) in California, Oregon and Washington. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service goal is to kill up to 452,000 barred owls and halt the decline of competing northern spotted owls and California spotted owl s.
Killing one bird species to save others has divided wildlife advocates and is reminiscent of past government efforts to save West Coast salmon by killing sea lions and cormorants, and to preserve warblers by killing cowbirds that lay eggs in warbler nests. The barred owl removals would be among the largest such effort to date involving birds of prey, researchers and wildlife advocates said.
Native to eastern North America, barred owls started appearing in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s. They’ve quickly displaced many spotted owls, which are smaller birds that need larger territories. An estimated 100,000 barred owls now live within a range that contains only about 7,100 spotted owls, according to federal officials.
The newcomers’ arrival also threatens to decimate frog and salamander species that barred owls prey on.
“It’s not just one owl versus one owl,” said David Wiens, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist who led a barred owl removal study that ended in 2020. “Because of their predatory behavior, they are basically eating anything in the forest and this includes amphibians, small mammals, other bird species.”
Government officials say 15 years of killing barred owls experimentally, including on Northern California’s Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, shows the controversial strategy could halt the decline of spotted owls. Yet researchers warn that few spotted owls remain in some areas, and it could take years to turn the tide on the barred owls’ aggressive expansion of their range.
The wildlife service would designate government agencies, landowners, tribes or companies to carry out the killings. Shooters would have to provide documentation of training or experience in owl identification and firearm skills.
Public hunting of barred owls wouldn’t be allowed.
“We’re talking about managing in less than 50% of that northern spotted owl range to try and carve out space for those spotted owls,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Oregon state supervisor Kessina Lee. “We’re still going to have barred owls in the West. This is really just about trying to prevent the extinction of spotted owls.”
Some wildlife advocates have backed the barred owl killings. Others say it’s a reckless diversion from needed forest preservation and won’t stop barred owls from migrating into the region.
Their spread has undermined decades of spotted owl restoration efforts that previously focused on protecting forests where they live. That included logging restrictions under former President Bill Clinton that ignited bitter political fights but also temporarily helped slow the spotted owl’s decline.
Northern spotted owls are federally protected as a threatened species. California spotted owls were proposed for federal protections last year. A decision is pending.
Barred owls are highly territorial, which makes killing them relatively straightforward, according to researchers. Shooters use megaphones to broadcast recorded owl calls at night and lure the birds close to roads where they are killed with shotguns.
“The birds will come right in. They’re very focused on this recording,” Wiens said. “If we go into a site and detect a barred owl there, we have over a 95 % chance of removing that barred owl.”
Other potential approaches — including capturing and euthanizing barred owls, collecting their eggs to prevent reproduction, or hazing them out of areas with spotted owls — were considered by the wildlife service but rejected as too costly or impractical.
About 4,500 barred owls birds have been killed on the West Coast since 2009 by researchers, according to officials.
That includes more than 800 birds from the Hoopa reservation, said tribal wildlife biologist Mark Higley.
Higley conducts the barred owl removals across 140 square miles (364 square kilometers) on the reservation primarily by himself, working two or three nights a week from early spring until late fall.
“The problem has been we get like 60 to 100 new barred owls each year,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong; barred owls are magnificent species. I just would really like to go see them where they’re native and not invasive.”
Owls have long been revered for their mysterious and enigmatic nature, but in recent years, they have become the target of increased culling efforts on the US West Coast. This controversial practice has been implemented in an attempt to protect native bird populations from the predatory effects of owls.
The issue of owl culling has sparked heated debate among conservationists, bird enthusiasts, and wildlife advocates. While some argue that the culling of owls is necessary to safeguard vulnerable bird species, others contend that it is a cruel and unnecessary measure that could have detrimental effects on owl populations.
The primary reason behind the increase in owl culling is the decline of native bird populations in the region. Many native bird species, such as the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet, are facing threats from habitat loss, climate change, and competition from invasive species. In an effort to protect these imperiled birds, wildlife managers have turned to culling owls as a means of reducing predation pressure on their populations.
Owls are known to prey on a wide range of bird species, including some that are already struggling to survive. By reducing the number of owls in the area, wildlife managers hope to give native bird populations a fighting chance at recovery. However, critics of owl culling argue that it is a short-sighted solution that fails to address the root causes of declining bird populations.
In addition to concerns about the ethical implications of culling owls, there are also questions about the effectiveness of this strategy. Some studies have shown that culling owls can lead to unintended consequences, such as an increase in rodent populations that can damage crops and spread disease. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that owl culling may not be as effective at protecting native bird populations as previously thought.
As the debate over owl culling continues to rage on, it is clear that there are no easy answers to this complex issue. Wildlife managers must carefully weigh the potential benefits of culling owls against the ethical and ecological concerns raised by critics. In the meantime, efforts are being made to explore alternative methods for protecting native bird populations, such as habitat restoration and predator deterrents.
Ultimately, the fate of owls on the US West Coast hangs in the balance as conservationists grapple with the difficult task of balancing the needs of different species in a rapidly changing environment. Only time will tell whether owl culling proves to be a successful strategy for protecting native bird populations or if alternative solutions will need to be pursued.
