"Of Feather & Forest" - Northern Spotted Owl - Greeting Card

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.

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.

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

The spotted owl may very well already be condemned to extinction. The trained biologist side of me understands that, especially with last month’s reports on this owl now being functionally extinct in the wild across much of the Pacific Northwest.

But the deep-down-in-my-naively-romantic-gut part of me believes that right now all steps we take toward habitat restoration and species rehabilitation is right. Everything counts when so much is at stake.

I am constantly looking at science to keep my idealism in check, but the fact is that we need both. We need the data and we need the heart.