Draft Spotted Owl Critical Habitat Rule

The timber industry is unimpressed with the Obama Administration’s latest efforts to cloak its failed forest policies in the rhetoric of forest restoration, jobs and old growth protection. In a press conference, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other Administration officials sought to downplay the impact of a new Northern Spotted Owl critical habitat proposal on rural Northwest economies by touting the promise of “ecological forestry.” Secretary Salazar sounded the same theme last week in Medford, Oregon during a tour to promote the failed “Pilot Joe” pilot project.