The American Bird Conservancy has issued the below alert.  Please read and consider taking action;

Kurt R. Schwarz
Conservation Chair
Maryland Ornithological Society

Action Urgently Needed to Protect Northwest Forests and the Northern Spotted Owl
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is planning to weaken protection for mature forests in the Pacific Northwest needed by the Spotted Owl – one of the United States’ most threatened species. The proposed rule encourages extensive logging of owl habitat; forests that also provide clean drinking water to millions of Americans and spawning rivers for Pacific salmon.
 
We need your help to fix this proposed rule!
 
Please tell the Obama Administration that our magnificent old-growth forests must remain protected for the sake of the owl, other species, and future generations of Americans.
 
Unfortunately, the government isn’t making commenting on this plan as easy as they could, but we will not be deterred. To make your voice heard and submit your comment, copy and paste the below link into your browser.

www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FWS-R1-ES-2011-0112-0030.
 
Fill in your name and copy and paste the following letter into the comment box. To greatly increase the impact of your action, add your own feelings about the old-growth forests, and please forward this alert to others.
 
Thank you for your help on this important issue,
 
 
Steve Holmer
Senior Policy Advisor
American Bird Conservancy
 
 
Template letter to personalize and cut and paste into the regulations.gov comment box.
 
I am writing in support of protecting the mature and old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest that provide numerous economic and ecosystem benefits and are essential to threatened species such as the Northern Spotted Owl, the Marbled Murrelet, and Pacific salmon. Conservation of the old-growth ecosystem by the Northwest Forest Plan was a significant environmental advance that ended decades of unsustainable management practices. Studies show that the plan is working -- the highly fragmented forests are growing back into large blocks needed to maintain water quality and recover threatened species such as the Northern Spotted Owl.

The draft Critical Habitat proposal raises concern because it does not protect all habitat essential to the conservation and recovery of the spotted owl.  The rule also proposes to exclude habitat on state and private lands necessary for recovery, particularly coastal redwood forests.  In addition, even for areas designated as Critical Habitat, the draft rule allows logging that is not supported by science. Three major scientific societies are advising the Obama Administration to conduct more research before more owl habitat is lost.
 
We agree with the scientists’ call for caution. The necessity and benefits of logging in owl habitat remain in scientific dispute; if allowed, it should be viewed as experimental, conducted on a small scale, and monitored to determine its impact. 

The draft includes language allowing for weakening or eliminating protections of the Northwest Forest Plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must ensure that the protected reserves are maintained. Logging areas now protected by the Northwest Forest Plan, including mature forests that the Plan had intended to become old-growth is inconsistent with sound science and should not be allowed. The proposed elimination of the owl’s old-growth reserves as proposed in the Okanogan-Wenatchee forest plan revision should be opposed by the Service. 

############################

To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1