Board of Forestry Fails to Protect the Spotted Owl

On July 10, 2013, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection voted 7-2 to reject EPIC’s rulemaking proposal that would delete antiquated and harmful Forest Practice Rules that threaten Northern Spotted Owls.

After hearing a presentation from EPIC, and public testimony, the Board voted against the proposal despite wide-spread acknowledgement that the Rules are indeed out of date and out of fashion.

“The Board of Forestry did what it almost always does when faced with a serious problem—absolutely nothing,” said Rob DiPerna EPIC’s Industrial Forestry Reform Advocate.  “It’s typical; almost everyone acknowledged the problem, but the Board saw no urgency to find a solution.”

By keeping antiquated regulations in place, the Board of Forestry has further empowered the California Fish & Game Commission to exert some authority over the species. EPIC will be before the California Fish & Game Commission on August 7th, and the Commission is expected to vote on listing the owl under the California Endangered Species Act.

“The Board’s failure to act on such a simple necessary change makes EPIC’s California Endangered Species Act petition even more important,” said Rob.  “It’s clear that we cannot rely on CAL FIRE and the Board of Forestry to do the right thing, so hopefully, the Fish and Game Commission will.”