Spotted Owls Still Paying the Price for Sierra Logging
Owl populations are still declining in national forests despite logging bans of the '90s.
Northern Spotted Owl
The spotted owl became a symbol of an environmental movement protesting logging in the Sierra back in the '90s--the birds live in the area's huge, old trees. But even after logging restrictions were enacted, the spotted owl populations are still declining, a new study reports. That's because the trees these owls rely on are slow to grow, so the forests are still repaying "extinction debt" from the era of logging.
