Court Restores Lumber Companies’ Challenge To Spotted Owl Habitat

"WASHINGTON -- A top federal appeals court has added fuel to a long-running fight over federal protections for the northern spotted owl in California, Oregon and Washington state.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the lumber companies united as the American Forest Resource Council have the legal standing to challenge the owl’s designated “critical habitat.” Federal officials in 2012 designated more than 9.5 million acres in the three states as essential for the owl’s survival.

“The council has demonstrated a substantial probability that the critical habitat designation will cause a decrease in the supply of timber from the designated forest lands,' Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote, adding that there’s also evidence that 'council members will suffer economic harm as a result of the decrease in the timber supply from those forest lands.'"

Michael Doyle reports for McClatchy April 11, 2017.