The center notes that monitoring the spotted owl is required by the Northwest Forest Plan and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s western Oregon plan revision, and that timber sale and fuels reduction projects in the agencies are dependent upon monitoring the owls.
“We need this data every year to ensure that our efforts to protect these owls and the old forests they depend on are succeeding,” Dr. Taal Levi, an associate professor of wildlife biology at Oregon State University and a collaborator on the spotted owl monitoring project, said in a statement.
Monitoring data ensures that efforts to protect the owls are successful] That monitoring to track the species and ensure it's not under assault by other creatures is often done by federal employees and helps keep the species alive.
Without regional monitoring of the birds, the Center for Biological Diversity said conservation agencies would be left without crucial information about the species.
“As a former seasonal spotted owl surveyor myself, I know first-hand how important keeping track of these inquisitive birds is to their survival.
