The Trump administration has cut designated critical habitat for the northern spotted owl by millions of acres in Oregon, Washington and California.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it would protections for the bird, including all of what鈥檚 known as the O&C Lands, which is big timber territory in Western Oregon.
It鈥檚 the latest jab at the northern spotted owl on the president鈥檚 way out the door.
The spotted owl is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service has said the bird warrants uplisting to 鈥渆ndangered鈥� because of continued population declines. The spotted owl population rangewide from 1985 to 2013.
However, the agency at the end of last year, saying other species took higher priority. That decision is led by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Noah Greenwald, the center鈥檚 endangered species director, called the reduction of critical habitat a 鈥減arting shot鈥� from the Trump administration.
鈥淭his is perhaps the nail in the coffin for the northern spotted owl,鈥� Greenwald said, 鈥渁nd really undoes a lot of the great work that鈥檚 been accomplished under the Northwest Forest Plan.鈥�
The reclusive northern spotted owl became the from rampant logging in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The fight over the bird and the forests it inhabits was a watershed moment in Oregon history, present in the state today.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says slashing the owl鈥檚 critical habitat satisfies a settlement agreement between the agency, the timber industry and counties. Half of all logging revenue from the O&C Lands 鈥� forests named for the long-defunct Oregon & California Railroad 鈥� goes to counties and schools, by law.
鈥淲e are delighted to see rational and positive decision making by the federal government,鈥� said Tim Freeman, a Douglas County commissioner and president of the Association of O&C Counties, in a press release. 鈥淚t has been a very long process, and there is still more to do. But this is a major step in the right direction.鈥�
The Fish and Wildlife Service鈥檚 original proposal to reduce critical habitat for the owl last August totaled just 200,000 acres. The acreage announced Wednesday is a dramatic departure from .
The agency also removed critical habitat designation on 20,000 acres of land recently transferred to the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.
The northern spotted owl still has more than 6 million acres of critical habitat.
Under the Endangered Species Act, federal land agencies must designate critical habitat that . That can include areas that could sustain protected species even if they don鈥檛 currently live there.
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