Fast Facts about the Northern Spotted Owl:

• The Bush/Cheney Administration ignored repeated requests for a thorough peer review on the habitat provisions in the plan prior to its public release.  The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service should withdraw the politicized draft recovery plan and reconvene the Recovery Team to draft a new plan based on scientific findings.
• This is a flagrant attempt by the Bush/Cheney Administration to allow accelerated and unsustainable logging on federal lands at the expense of the spotted owl and other wildlife that depend on these forests.
• Spotted owl numbers are declining more rapidly than anticipated when the federal government added them to the endangered species list in 1990.  Given the continuing stresses and threats to this species, the northern spotted owl needs more old growth forest protection, not less.
• Decisions related to the recovery of a species should not be subject to high level political interference as was the case with several plans, including the draft plan for the northern spotted owl.
• Protection of old-growth forests not only supports northern spotted owl recovery, it supports the recovery of many other at-risk species.