While working on this painting of a Northern Spotted Owl I thought about the future of this delicate species and its habitat that has been so terribly compromised by decades of human ignorance and colonization.

This humble little owl and the ancient forests it depends on are at the brink of extinction, entirely dependent on the decisions humanity makes from here regarding land usage rights, logging laws, and restoration and management efforts.

It’s up to us to know enough – and to care enough – to save them from disappearing forever, as this owl in the painting is starting to. Her body is a shimmering mirage of feathers fading into the old growth habitat around her, marked by dying western red cedar, desiccated moss, and tattered trillium blooming one last time.

The Northern Spotted Owl, a diminutive brown raptor endemic to the Pacific Northwest, has been in the center of fierce conflict between environmental advocacy groups and developers.

In the 70's and 80's when old growth forests were being logged with reckless abandon, a sharp decline in the Northern Spotted Owl population was noted. This led to the Northern Spotted Owl to become the symbol for the preservation of old growth forests, but they also became the target of deep hatred from loggers and logging communities whose livelihoods were tied up in the work (learn more by listening to the excellent Timber Wars program about this issue). Should human ways of life always come before the protection of "just" another owl species...? Thus the "save a logger, eat an owl" (and the lesser-heard but equally disparaging "save toilet paper, wipe with an owl") quote was born, which was printed on t shirts, bumper stickers, and loads of other products as the land continued to be discarded and degraded despite growing knowledge of the extensive consequences for wildlife, and, as we are now better understanding, for our climate stability as a whole.

Fortunately in 1990 the NoSpo was officially listed under the Endangered Species Act. To harm their habitat would be to harm the protected owls, so once they got listed that meant that old growth forests were finally off limits to logging. Annoyingly, just 30ish years later here we are faced with having to defend our forests from our rogue's gallery of a government once again. Just this year the Trump administration changed the language of the ESA to intentionally weaken protections for several species and their essential habitats, including the NoSpo. Harm now means "no direct killing of a protected animals is permissible" but their vital habitats are once again compromised.

Between habitat loss from human development, megafires, and direct resource competition with other species like the Barred Owl, the Northern Spotted Owl was deemed "functionally extinct" in large parts of the Pacific Northwest in a report published less than 2 months ago. This designation means they no longer serve a "meaningful" ecological role or can't reproduce enough to survive in the wild much longer into the future without implementing urgent protections and management.

So what can we do?

One method for helping stabilize the NoSpo population has been to cull Barred Owls in the areas where Spotted Owls reproduce to potentially help give them a chance to recover with less competition. For those who don't know, Barred Owls are native to the eastern US but spread west on their own thanks in part to humans tearing down forests that otherwise acted as a geographic barrier that kept the Barred Owls in the east. So while Barred Owls aren't invasive, they still are a major threat to vulnerable species like the NoSpo. The shooting of these owls officially began in parts of Oregon less than one week ago. Heated debate continues over the impact and ethics of killing up to half a million individuals of one species to protect another, especially when the success and proliferation of the Barred Owl was facilitated by human-directed habitat destruction in the first place.

Another suggestion has been to bring Northern Spotted Owls into a captive breeding program, much like what's helped the California Condor and Whooping Crane populations come back from the brink.

Ultimately, this is an issue of land and of the colonial disregard and desecration of it.

Is it possible to balance the endless demands of a gluttonous capitalist enterprise with our imperative need for a functioning global ecosystem? No, and we have a responsibility to atone for our sins by rewilding the land to preserve what we can for future generations. There is no future when our consumerist culture is an unappeasable pit, hungry for more until it finally eats itself whole. Like the ouroboros of yore we are choking on our own tails, suffocating from the ache and grief of our hubris.

Humans need ancient forests too, and the Northern Spotted Owl always reminds me to check my hubris, challenge my beliefs, and realign with the knowledge that as much as humanity tends to think of itself as superior ot the rest of life we will forever be utterly entangled in this vast web. When one thread breaks, we all suffer the consequences.