Barred Owls got a little help from the folks who want to get rid of our EPA (established in 1970 by a former GOP admin)...FDA...FCC...SEC...etc. Just follow the money trail...
Here's an excerpt from the attached Audubon Society article...
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Timber companies, chafing at restrictions on logging, have repeatedly challenged critical habitat designations for the owl, including a 2012 rule that set aside 9.5 million acres of forest. That lawsuit remained tied up in the courts until last April, when the FWS reached a settlement with the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association for the timber industry, requiring it to re-evaluate designated habitat.
The outcome of that process was a FWS proposal in August to remove some 200,000 acres of critical habitat in Oregon. But timber companies said the proposal didn’t go far enough. In formal comments on the plan, the American Forest Resource Council argued that the FWS should remove a total of 2.7 million acres.
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Link: https://www.audubon.org/news/trump-administration-drastically-slashes-protections-northern-spotted-owls