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Critical habitat rule reverses Trump administration’s dismantling of environmental protections for Northwest old-growth forests

Earthjustice's Northwest office filed a complaint March 23, 2021 to protect more than 3 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat.

Legal action seeks to reverse Trump administration’s dismantling of environmental protections for Northwest’s disappearing old-growth forests

Kristen Boyles, Attorney, Northwest Office, Earthjustice: “How in the world have they gone from a couple hundred thousand acres to three million acres and it wasn’t announced? That will be a primary focus of any legal challenge, and it will be challenged. There is no question.”

Attorney Kristen Boyles has spent most of her career using the Endangered Species Act to protect species like the murrelet, salmon, and another ancient forest denizen, the northern spotted owl.

Decision reverses controversial Bush Administration cuts to habitat

Bush/Cheney plans tossed out

Government signals openness to strengthening weak habitat and recovery plans

Intervention motion in Northern Spotted Owl filed 11/24/2008.

Complaint in Northern Spotted Owl filed 11/12/2008.

Effort begun to reverse weak habitat protection and flawed recovery plan in Pacific Northwest

Move is next step in Bush administration strategy to dismantle Northwest Forest Plan

The Fish and Wildlife Service approved several timber sales in areas nominally protected as critical habitat for the northern spotted owl. Earthjustice sued to stop the sales. In February 2007, the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals ruled that the FWS violated the Endangered Species Act when it approved the sales.

FWS must monitor logging impacts on threatened and endangered species

Citing increasing threats, scientists call for owl habitat protection to thwart extinction

Thousands of acres of old-growth to be destroyed

Litigation to save the northern spotted owl from extinction slowed the rate of logging dramatically in the nick of time.