Judge OKs logging in owl habitat By Associated Press Feb 14, 2004 - 01:16:11 am PST GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- National forests in southwestern Oregon can sell timber that stands within critical habitat for the northern spotted owl if the areas also are designated for logging under the Northwest Forest Plan, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Owen Panner in Portland was a defeat for the Oregon Natural Resources Council and other environmental groups trying to protect old growth timber within the area designated for harvest on federal lands in Oregon, Washington and Northern California. In dismissing the lawsuit, the judge upheld the biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that declared logging on 60,000 acres of the Rogue River and Siskiyou national forests and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Medford District would not harm the overall population of spotted owls, which are a threatened species. One major logging project targeted by the lawsuit was the BLM's Kelsey-Whisky timber sale on the north side of the Rogue River near the community of Galice, which calls for cutting 12 million board feet of timber on 5,000 acres to produce logs for local mills, reduce wildfire danger, improve pond habitats and decommission 10 miles of old logging roads. "Although plaintiffs believe too high a percentage of habitat loss is occurring in southwestern Oregon, or that certain critical habitat units are experiencing more than their share of logging, the (Fish and Wildlife Service) has explained why this is occurring and concluded that the harvest levels will not jeopardize the species as a whole," Panner wrote. Joan Jewett, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife regional office in Portland, said the ruling completely upheld the agency's scientific evaluation of the logging's impact on owls. "We're confident our scientists always do the highest quality work and are glad the judge agrees," she said. Environmentalists had argued that Fish and Wildlife failed to show that alternate habitat areas where commercial logging is not allowed were sufficient to support owls displaced by the timber harvest. Kristin Boyles, a lawyer for Earthjustice, an environmental public interest law firm, said Fish and Wildlife was going along with a Bush administration policy downplaying the importance of critical habitat for restoring threatened and endangered species. Environmentalists argue that the standard of protection under critical habitat is greater, because it calls for the recovery of a species to a sustainable population, while a listing just prohibits further harm. As a result of a lawsuit brought by environmentalists, the Forest Service and BLM adopted the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. The plan reduced logging by more than 80 percent. The northern spotted owl was listed a threatened species in 1990, due primarily to loss of old growth forest habitat to logging. In 1992 Fish and Wildlife designated nearly 7 million acres of federal forest lands in Oregon, Washington and California as habitat critical to its recovery. Its numbers have continued to decline. Non-text portions of this message have been removed.   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material  herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to:  http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml