Environmental groups go to court over the spotted owl A large
alliance of environmental groups is joining its foes, the timber
industry, in opposing a federal blueprint for protecting the
northern spotted owl, the threatened Northwest bird that has
stood in the way of logging federal lands. The timber industry
argued in a lawsuit filed last month in Washington, D.C., that
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to designate too much
land as critical habitat for the owl. On Monday, 18 wildlife and
conservation groups asked to intervene in the lawsuit, arguing
the Fish and Wildlife Service isn't designating enough critical
habitat. The standoff highlights the role of the spotted owl as
a key tool in the argument over how much of the Northwest
forests should remain easily accessible to logging. Owls favor
large, older forests that were a key source of Northwest timber.
While logging on federal land has fallen sharply since the
1990s, owl numbers are still declining. Scientists increasingly
believe that's also b