I was shaking and I had to steady myself
I wasn’t sure I could actually do it
there was just something in me that
seemed like this was so wrong here’s two
birds they’re closely related they look
similar they’re both beautiful birds and
then to go out and decide I’m going to
I’m going to kill one of these birds I’m
going to remove them it’s a really
difficult thing to do that’s the female
that’s the male over there in the early
1990s we started hearing some Bardell
around 2000 the barred owl numbers
suddenly started going up our our
habitat models indicated that there’s
good habitat out there but despite that
our spotted owl numbers started going
downhill we soon recognized that this
was going to be a problem of wandering
what are we going to do about it and it
it seemed like the only feasible thing
probably was going to be lethal removal
of barn owls because they’re difficult
to capture but even if you can cap from
the issue is what would you do with them
when I first started working on spot
elves that was very little-known I mean
we we knew that they were out there in
old forests because there were some
historical records but we really had no
information on how abundant they were we
didn’t know what their total
distribution was there were just a whole
lot of unknowns starting in the late 80s
and early 90s we initiated some
long-term demography studies which are
studies that are designed to track the
population and we use banded birds to do
that so we go out and we mark all the
birds and follow them every year – so
right here’s Wooden’s to count so far
keep about an eighth of an inch sticking
out ok good what the data suggest from
all those study area is it that the
populations are gradually declining in
the northern part of the range in
Washington whether we’re estimating
about seven or eight percent decline per
year which is really a pretty it’s a
crash basically we thought that if we
just did a good job of protecting
habitat that the spotted owl population
would eventually reach equilibrium or
even increase and everything would be
fine we’re seeing a continued decline
and all the evidence suggests is that’s
due to the invasion of this whole area
by the barred owl mardell’s come into a
spot on territory and chase them around
and physically hit them if they can and
basically chase them out we basically
have two choices one is to do nothing
and spotted owls slowly go extinct or we
try to control barred owls at least in
some areas so that the two species can
coexist
the results have been in my opinion
quite profound in the sense that the
spotted owl population which was going
in this direction as soon as we started
the removal immediately started going in
the other direction in terms of the
number of occupied sites I guess I would
say I can’t be a hundred percent
confident that it’s going to work in the
long term but I’m quite confident that
if we don’t do anything that that the
spotted owl is is headed towards
extinction I think the idea of doing an
experimental removal of barred owls is
to measure the effect on spotted owls
makes sense from a scientific
perspective but it’ll help us to
understand you know is it feasible
personally I kind of think about all we
can do is do our best to manage habitat
for spotted owls and other species that
occur an OLE for us and kind of let the
two species work it out I personally
don’t think we can ever manage barred
owls in the long run to me I mean I
spent my life trying to protect and save
this species we’ve done I think an
incredible job of protecting habitat and
yet we’re still seeing the population
declining and that’s read disheartening
for me what makes life interesting on
this planet is the incredible
biodiversity that that surrounds us it’s
what that’s what I live for I mean I
think this is the only chance we get and
I think it’s incredibly important that
we try to protect that biodiversity for
future generations because this place we
live in is amazing the spotted owl is
just one little piece of that incredible
biodiversity it’s a piece that I happen
to get focused on for most of my life
but it’s what makes life worth living
for me
I wasn’t sure I could actually do it
there was just something in me that
seemed like this was so wrong here’s two
birds they’re closely related they look
similar they’re both beautiful birds and
then to go out and decide I’m going to
I’m going to kill one of these birds I’m
going to remove them it’s a really
difficult thing to do that’s the female
that’s the male over there in the early
1990s we started hearing some Bardell
around 2000 the barred owl numbers
suddenly started going up our our
habitat models indicated that there’s
good habitat out there but despite that
our spotted owl numbers started going
downhill we soon recognized that this
was going to be a problem of wandering
what are we going to do about it and it
it seemed like the only feasible thing
probably was going to be lethal removal
of barn owls because they’re difficult
to capture but even if you can cap from
the issue is what would you do with them
when I first started working on spot
elves that was very little-known I mean
we we knew that they were out there in
old forests because there were some
historical records but we really had no
information on how abundant they were we
didn’t know what their total
distribution was there were just a whole
lot of unknowns starting in the late 80s
and early 90s we initiated some
long-term demography studies which are
studies that are designed to track the
population and we use banded birds to do
that so we go out and we mark all the
birds and follow them every year – so
right here’s Wooden’s to count so far
keep about an eighth of an inch sticking
out ok good what the data suggest from
all those study area is it that the
populations are gradually declining in
the northern part of the range in
Washington whether we’re estimating
about seven or eight percent decline per
year which is really a pretty it’s a
crash basically we thought that if we
just did a good job of protecting
habitat that the spotted owl population
would eventually reach equilibrium or
even increase and everything would be
fine we’re seeing a continued decline
and all the evidence suggests is that’s
due to the invasion of this whole area
by the barred owl mardell’s come into a
spot on territory and chase them around
and physically hit them if they can and
basically chase them out we basically
have two choices one is to do nothing
and spotted owls slowly go extinct or we
try to control barred owls at least in
some areas so that the two species can
coexist
the results have been in my opinion
quite profound in the sense that the
spotted owl population which was going
in this direction as soon as we started
the removal immediately started going in
the other direction in terms of the
number of occupied sites I guess I would
say I can’t be a hundred percent
confident that it’s going to work in the
long term but I’m quite confident that
if we don’t do anything that that the
spotted owl is is headed towards
extinction I think the idea of doing an
experimental removal of barred owls is
to measure the effect on spotted owls
makes sense from a scientific
perspective but it’ll help us to
understand you know is it feasible
personally I kind of think about all we
can do is do our best to manage habitat
for spotted owls and other species that
occur an OLE for us and kind of let the
two species work it out I personally
don’t think we can ever manage barred
owls in the long run to me I mean I
spent my life trying to protect and save
this species we’ve done I think an
incredible job of protecting habitat and
yet we’re still seeing the population
declining and that’s read disheartening
for me what makes life interesting on
this planet is the incredible
biodiversity that that surrounds us it’s
what that’s what I live for I mean I
think this is the only chance we get and
I think it’s incredibly important that
we try to protect that biodiversity for
future generations because this place we
live in is amazing the spotted owl is
just one little piece of that incredible
biodiversity it’s a piece that I happen
to get focused on for most of my life
but it’s what makes life worth living
for me
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