The U.S. Forest Service employs dozens of seasonal biologists every spring to enter isolated Northwest forests on public property and install acoustic recorders to listen for noises that might be signs of the imperiled northern spotted owl.
The Forest Service estimates that there are less than 2,000 northern spotted owls in Oregon and only 5,000 remaining throughout the Northwest. To save the owls from going extinct, counting is essential.
However, on January 20, President Donald Trump issued an order to suspend hiring.
Taal Levi, an associate professor of wildlife biology at Oregon State University who works on the owl monitoring project, said the freeze prevents the Forest Service from hiring the more than 40 seasonal scientists needed to count the owls. According to Levi, over 60 scientists from central California to Canada usually participate in the monitoring.
Noah Greenwald, director of endangered species at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, said it also means the agency will probably lose dozens more scientists needed to monitor endangered and vulnerable salmon, frogs, and other delicate species.
Monitoring, protecting, and even surviving rare species may be impacted by the hiring block, Trump’s dismissal of thousands of probationary staff, and the resignation of top executives who accepted buyouts at federal natural resource agencies, according to Greenwald.
Although it’s unclear if this will occur, he expressed his hope that they will recognize the importance of the work and rehire.
Federal officials who had previously spoken to media are no longer able to do so, and it is unclear what the authorities intend to do.
U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist Damon Lesmeister, who has overseen federal owl monitoring programs for years, told the Capital Chronicle that he is no longer allowed to speak to reporters without the public affairs staff’s approval.
Additionally, inquiries concerning the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ban on hiring seasonal biologists were not answered by an unidentified official. “Under Trump, the agency has fired 2,000 probationary employees to be good stewards of the hard-earned taxpayer dollars of the American people and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy,” the individual stated in an email.
MONITORING REQUIRED
The Northwest Forest Plan and a land management plan for western Oregon, which is supervised by the federal Bureau of Land Management, mandate that the owls be monitored.
Every spring, scores of scientists are engaged to assist with the monitoring between Central California and Canada, including Greenwald.
Before beginning action to reduce the fuels of wildfires and logging, the government agencies also hire temporary biologists to survey the land. In order to prevent additional animal deaths and habitat loss, those projects necessitate environmental impact evaluations based on species monitoring data.
Projects involving wood and wildfire logging may be postponed in the absence of that data.
Greenwald remarked, “I think some of it will still happen.” The Forest Service will probably attempt to persuade anybody they have out here to assist with part of it. However, it’s a massive job. A lot of individuals are needed.
Since 1990, the owls have been under observation and designated as vulnerable under the Endangered Species Act. They have decreased by thousands in California, Washington, and Oregon as a result of habitat loss brought on by exotic species, wildfires, logging, and climate change.
Spotted owl numbers in high density owl region in Oregon decreased by as much as 75% between 1995 and 2017. Population losses of up to 80% occurred in several spotted owl territories in Washington during that period.
After reviewing the owl’s threatened designation in 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided that other higher priority species needed to be relisted, even though the owl’s ongoing decrease called for a reclassification.
In a press release, Oregon State University’s Levi expressed his serious concern over the shortage of personnel for owl monitoring.
To make sure that our efforts to save these owls and the ancient woods they rely on are effective, we require this data annually, he said.
— Oregon Capital Chronicle’s Alex Baumhardt
Established in 2021, The Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit news outlet that specializes in Oregon politics, government, and policy.
