Should We Pay $1.3 Billion to Shoot Half a Million Barred Owls?

The US Fish and Wildlife Service had big plans to cull hundreds of thousands of barred owls in an effort to keep them away from the habitats of an endangered species, the northern spotted owl. Now those plans face bipartisan pushback in Congress.

Rep. Troy E. Nehls, a Republican from Texas, last week introduced a Joint Resolution of Disapproval that would kill the cull, and he has the backing of 17 co-sponsors from both parties. The USFWS plan would involve using shotguns to kill barred owls in California, Oregon, and Washington.

“The Biden Administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service agency plan to directly kill more than 450,000 barred owls, costing taxpayers over $1.3 billion over the next 30 years, is a waste of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” Nehls said in a statement.

The cull was planned to stem the spread of barred owls that are invading the spaces of northern spotted owls, a smaller species that prefers old-growth forests. Barred owls are more aggressive and less picky about habitat, which gives them an advantage in competing for resources.

Some scientists and conservationists believe the cull is a necessary evil to protect the smaller species. “If we don’t move forward with barred owl removal, it will mean the extinction of the northern spotted owl, and it will likely mean the extinction of the California spotted owl as well,” Tom Wheeler, executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center, tells the Los Angeles Times.

The big cull is already threatened. In May, federal officials canceled grants related to removing barred owls from over 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, as well as another planned for the Mendocino National Forest.

Now with Nehls’s joint resolution, the whole project could be canceled – if it’s approved by majority votes in the House and Senate and signed by the president.

Photo credit: Ray Bosch / USFWS