Biologists Question Decision to Thin Forest

Biologists are questioning the US Forest Service's decision to thin forests in the Sierra Nevada. The decision is rationalized by the Forest Service asserting that preventing wildfires will save spotted owl habitat. However, the Forest Service's claims of habitat loss due to wildfires appear to be exaggerated.

Spotted owls have been found in several areas listed as destroyed by the government agency. Environmentalists see the decision as a giveaway to the timber industry.

The portrayal of fire as a purely destructive force to owl habitat disturbs Michael Gertsch, a Forest Service wildlife biologist, who worked on the agency's plan. His work points to fire as having a maintenance effect rather than a destructive effect on owl habitat. Environmentalists have challenged the decision to allow increases in logging. The Forest Service will decide on the challenges by the end of the year.

Link:

• Biologist, others in way of logging plans in MSNBC News (note: more than one biologist questions the decision in the article, hence the discrepancy between the weblog article title and the news source headline)


• Court ruling protects spotted-owl habitat - a slightly related article detailing a US court decision that forest management decisions must allow for the recovery of species, not the survival of species - from the Seattle Times

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 10:17 PM on August 18, 2004