Environmental activists have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force the agency to deny logging permits to Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), claiming their projects will result in an "incidental take," or deaths of hundreds of spotted owls.
SPI is a private company that manages forests "for the primary purpose of commercial timber production," says the lawsuit filed in Sacramento federal court by the Environmental Protection Information Center.
"Some of SPI’s forestland holdings provide habitat for northern spotted owls and California spotted owls," the lawsuit states. "Spotted owls rely on older forest habitats because they generally contain the structures and characteristics required for the owl’s essential biological functions of nesting, roosting, foraging, and dispersal."
Spotted owls within the SPI property are on both private and federally managed forestland, according to the lawsuit.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to adequately consider the effects of climate change when approving logging permits for SPI, the lawsuit states.
"Increased forest fires resulting from climate change impacts will shift tree species composition and alter forest turnover rates, which will negatively impact spotted owls and their habitat," the suit says.
Although Fish and Wildlife required SPI to retain “green trees” during salvage harvesting to speed up the development of future habitat for spotted owls, it failed to require the company to conduct owl surveys in areas proposed for salvage logging, the suit said.
"This decision is unsupported by the best available science because spotted owls are known to return to areas affected by wildfire and nest in areas even following high severity fire," the suit said.
It seeks a court ruling that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws by approving the logging and for the court to set aside the approval "until FWS has complied with the law."
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Thomas E. Wheeler of the Environmental Protection Information Center, of Arcata, and Sangye Ince-Johannsen and Peter Frost, of the Western Environmental Law Center, of Eugene, Oregon.
Environmental Protection Information Center v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, 2:23-at-01143