What is the status of the northern spotted owl population?
The most significant threats to the northern spotted owl are past and current habitat loss (as a result of timber harvest and further exacerbated by catastrophic fire, volcanic eruption, and wind storms), and competition with barred owls. Little was known about the barred owl threat at the time the spotted owl was listed in 1990. Since that time we have learned much more and the existing 2008 recovery plan reflects that newer information. The most recent analysis of data on spotted owl demographics such as occupancy, survival, reproduction, and movement indicates that spotted owl populations continue to decline in seven of 11 study areas throughout the owl’s range in Washington, Oregon, and California (populations are considered stationary in the other four). The overall rangewide population is declining at an average rate of nearly 3 percent per year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not set a specific population level as a criteria or goal to achieve recovery. The most importan
