 Metapopulation models are extremely important and have been used in one of the most difficult of environmental debates, that surrounding the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and its habitat (Durbin 1996; Norse 1990; Yaffee 1994). The northern spotted owl is a subspecies that lives exclusively in old-growth coniferous forests in northern California, western Washington and Oregon. Northern spotted owls are monogamous and each breeding pair uses one to three square miles of forest that is at least two-hundred and fifty years old. Farms, logging and other forms of development reduced northern spotted owl habitat. So, scientists and policymakers began to ask what must we do if we are to prevent them from going extinct? One way of answering that question is to use metapopulation models.