Tribal Leaders Applaud Senate Rejection of Barred Owl Resolution Threatening Forest and Wildlife Health

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) is a nonprofit nation-wide consortium of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and individuals dedicated to improving the management of natural resources of importance to Native American communities. ITC strongly opposes S.J.Res.69, a measure that would involve the Congressional Review Act to invalidate a federal wildlife management plan intended to prevent the extinction of the Northern Spotted Owl (NSO) in the Pacific Northwest. The ITC is grateful to Senators who helped vote to defeat a bill that would have severely impacted federal forest management in the Pacific Northwest.

The invasive barred owl poses a direct threat to the ecological integrity of tribal, federal, and private forestlands. The federal barred owl management strategy is a critical tool to protect the NSO, which is listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). There is substantial scientific evidence from long-term demographic studies, meta-analyses, and experimental removal trials indicating that the NSO faces a high risk of extinction without management of barred owls. On the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon, breeding pairs of the NSO have declined from 24 to just one, largely due to barred owl competition.

As a generalist predator, the barred owl also poses risks to a wide range of forest and aquatic species of social and ecological importance to tribes, including species integral to traditional food systems and watershed health. ITC and many of its member tribes support barred owl removal as a humane and effective measure to recover the NSO and restore ecosystem integrity. The Hoopa Tribe in northern California has been involved in the Barred Owl removal program since 2013. Through sustained effort, the tribe is observing trends toward population stabilization.

Contrary to claims that the management plan is an expensive "billion-dollar scheme," the program's cost ranges between $4.5 and $12 million annually. These costs are shared among federal, state, tribal, and private partners and are expected to decrease year-over-year.

Congressional elimination of the barred owl management plan could lead to NSO extinction within 50 years and further limit Indian tribes and federal agencies from implementing forest health, fuels reduction and restoration projects on federal lands. The ITC applauds the defeat of S.J.Res.69 and the upholding of the science-based management framework to allow tribes and federal land and wildlife management agencies to recover the NSO and wisely manage natural resources.

SOURCE Intertribal Timber Council (ITC)