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The lamentations began even before B.C.’s sweeping report on the state of its
natural environment was released last week. The usual leaks from organized
critic groups to friendly media laid the spin down for the city folks: nice
scientific work and pretty maps but no endangered species law, so it’s logging
as usual.
The poster animals for the environmental movement are well known: spotted owl,
mountain caribou. A closer look at those reveals the complexity of the issues
involved.
Spotted owl habitat was set aside in 1997, but despite that the numbers in B.C.
have fallen so low that a captive breeding program was set up. Green activists
say ‘it’s the logging, stupid,’ but in fact one of the key problems found in a
decade of intensive study is that the owls haven’t chosen to occupy some of the
protected areas. One reason is barred owls pushing them out. And it’s not often
mentioned that B.C. is actually the extreme northern fringe ...