The Northern Spotted Owl and the Northwest Forest Plan
In 1997, the Northwest Forest Plan ("NWFP") was conceived by the USDA Forest Service under the Clinton Administration as a "vision for a sustainable future for Federal natural resources (lands managed by the USDA Forest Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Mangement) and for local timber dependent communities within the range of the northern spotted owl." (1997 Northwest Forest Plan: An Ecosystem Management Approach, Watersheds, Communities and People," USDA Forest Service)

The Bush Administration has persisted in its efforts to dismantle the NWFP through a wide variety of strategies. The latest attack on the environmental protections legally afforded the Northern spooted owl come in the form of a "Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan," a report that has been prepared by high-level Bush appointees (including a former timber-industry lobbyist) which basically disregards the opinions of scientists and other forest habitat experts. More than 700,000 acres of habitat suitable for the threatened owls could be left unprotected if this plan is implemented.

For more information about how the George W. Bush Administration has manipulated and subverted the scientific review process in the development of this piece of environmental policy, see Exhibit A, "Political Interference and Manipulation of the Best Available Science in Developing the Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan."

This Plan Does NOT Support "Recovery" of the Northern Spotted Owl
The Bush Administration and timber industry want to weaken habitat protections to increase logging in the public forests that are home to the Northern spotted owl.

The draft Recovery Plan threatens to do away with the network of old-growth forest reserves, the backbone of an effective conservation strategy for the owl and many other species that depend on old-growth forests.

Inappropriate political interference with science threatens the integrity of US environmental policy and the future of our children's heritage.