SEATTLE - It was past two decades the fate of a shy bird that most people had never seen came to symbolize the bitter divide on whether record or see the ancient forests of the Pacific North West. However, it was not until Thursday that the federal government offered its final plan to keep the bird, the northern spotted owl, to exit.
After several revisions, court battles and constant evolution of science, Fish and Wildlife Service presented a plan that addresses a number of threats to the owl, some few imagined when it was listed as a threatened species in 1990 .
Recent threats of climate change and the arrival of a formidable competitor for pens, Barred Owl, the rise of the ancient evergreen forests of Washington, Oregon and California spotted owl nesting and hunting.
An experiment is included in the plan: hundreds of shooting barred owls to see if it helps get spotted owls.
Even after all these years, since the spotted owl has become a Celebrate in September, and the environmental movement, is not at all clear that the plan is the solution. Supporters from both sides say it is inevitably called into question, and both parties expressed frustration with the Obama administration.
Some controversial issues have not yet been addressed, as I survey the so-called protection of critical habitats. And some experts say that despite two decades, the protection of the owl have helped to preserve the ecosystem of the forest, are less sure that the bird can still be saved.
The spotted owl is declining by an average of 3 percent per year through its range. Although some populations in southern Oregon and northern California are more stable, some of the highest rates of decline are here in Washington. Some areas of study in the Olympic and Cascade ranges show annual declines of up to 9 percent.
"I have certainly become much less confident that the years have passed," said Eric Forsman, a research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Corvallis, Oregon, whose work in the 1970s first drew attention to the owl. "If you had asked me in 1975," Can we fix it? "I would have said," Oh yes, this problem will disappear. "
The listing of the spotted owl as an endangered species has led to a virtual ban on logging in old forests of anger inspiring many federal prosecutions and threats of violence by loggers against defenders of rural owls that often came from urban areas.
"We're trained not to tell people in the villages of the area that spotted owls were raised," said Paula Sweden, an owl government land in the 1990s, who now works for a nonprofit group organization develop incentives for private forest owners to conserve and restore habitat for the owl.
But over time, the public passion and the owl both faded.
Although unemployment in some counties of the wood increased steadily in both figures, it is not drinking presidential conferences, and Clinton had a bill in Oregon in 1993, seeking common ground between conservation and protection of the economies rural areas. Many factors contribute to the rural decline, but registration restrictions played a role.
"I have nothing against the bird, but it has caused much havoc in the Pacific Northwest for 20 years," said Ray Wilkeson, chairman of the Oregon Forest Industries, which represents loggers , sawmills, and others in the industry. "A lot of human suffering is the result of that. Now there are new threats to the owl, which may be beyond the ability of anyone to control. "
The owl frozen, a bigger, more adaptable bird with a broad plan that flying squirrels and wood rats spotted owls prefer, has extended its range westward in the last century and is now a resident more frequent than spotted owls in the forests of the Northwest lot. Sometimes owls prohibited even kill spotted owls and males mate with females.
"The owl is frozen most threatening challenge," said Paul Henson, Fish and team leader Wildlife Service for the recovery plan. "We believe there is a very good chance of recovering the owl Spotted in the long run if we can manage escrow owl short-term problems. "
Others are less certain. While some experiments have shown initial success, Dr. Forsman, U.S. Forest Service biologist, wondered if barred owls could be handled on a large scale, if it came to that.
"You do not shoot forever barred owls to do," he said, "and I do not think there is likely to happen."
Supporters of the plan say it includes studies that could reveal how to manage forests to create space for both birds.
Although the plan does not map critical habitat - the allocation process is more than a year before the final, which frustrates environmentalists - which aims to expand protection for birds beyond areas now set aside. The existing areas were described by the Northwest Forest Plan, which was adopted one year after the Conference of President Clinton Wood, revised under the presidency of George W. Bush to allow more logging and reinstated by President Obama.
American Forest Resources Council, a timber industry group, said the plan would have caused "massive new restrictions, as well as federal and private lands."
But supporters say it will allow more timber plants to increase forest thinning and restoration work to fight against threats such as disease and fire, which could increase with climate change. The plan would allow logging companies incentives to create potential habitat for the spotted owl. Officials from the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, which oversees logging on federal lands, have expressed support for the plan.
"Because of dilution, is that we are always offered as an alleged cause," said Wilkeson Oregon Forest Industries Council. "But it is very limited."
While the protection of wood requires the issuance of a bird which some say may be related to extinction, environmentalists say it is too early to give up the spotted owl and the fight to save the benefits served extensive forests, water cleaner air and habitat for hundreds of other species, including endangered salmon.
"The spotted owl is an icon," said Dr. Forsman, "but there are many other players in terms of species and the protection of biodiversity in forests."
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