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Logging irks spotted-owl lobby

Cheryl Chan
The Province

Friday, September 07, 2007

Environmentalists are up in arms over the imminent logging of one of 12 remaining spotted-owl habitats near Pemberton.

The government is trying to capture the resident spotted owl, an 11-year old female, for its captive breeding recovery program while simultaneously clear-cutting its habitat, said Western Canada Wilderness Committee scientist Andy Miller. "You'd think if you are capturing them to breed because numbers are plummeting your first priority should be to maintain their habitat."

The committee set up a research camp in a meadow off Pemberton Airport Road yesterday to protest what Miller calls the government's "audacity." It plans to document the destruction caused by road construction and tree-felling in 13 planned clearcuts with photos and video footage. "Our aim is to get this logging stopped," he said.

The 3,200-hectare old-growth area is the oldest continually occupied spotted-owl habitat in B.C. The number of spotted owls in B.C. has dwindled from about 1,000 20 years ago to 16.

Three of the owls live in refuges on Grouse Mountain and in Langley, part of B.C.'s $3.4-million, five-year plan to recover the species.

The logging of the Pemberton site is managed by B.C. Timber Sales, a government program under the Ministry of Forests and Range. The ministry said all logging in the area will comply with current rules in place for active spotted owls.

chchan@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007