By JEFF BARNARD
AP Environmental Writer

August 12, 2008

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- The Bush administration has decided that the Northern Spotted Owl can get by with less old growth forest habitat as it struggles to get off the threatened species list.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it would cut by 23 percent the federal forest land designated as critical habitat for the owl in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Designating critical habitat for protection is a requirement of the Endangered Species Act. Meanwhile, owl numbers are dropping by 4 percent a year.
 
 
Conservation groups are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over logging on the Elliot State Forest in Oregon that has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the numbers of Northern Spotted Owls there.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District in Portland argues that under the Endangered Species Act, the federal agency must reopen consultation with the Oregon Department of Forestry over its plan for protecting owl habitat because owl numbers have dropped faster than expected.

The groups say the critical habitat designation and a new plan for restoring owl populations are contrary to the advice of leading scientists and are crafted to fulfill a Bush administration promise to the timber industry to increase logging.

Spokeswoman Joan Jewett says the Fish and Wildlife Service has not seen the lawsuit, but it is working with Oregon a new owl habitat conservation plan for the state forest.