Wildlife Service found in violation

A federal appeals court in Portland ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act when it approved a 22,000-acre federal logging project that affects northern spotted owl habitat in southern Oregon.

In a case dating to 2001, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that an “incidental take” statement estimating how many owls might be killed had no scientific foundation and lacked a specific estimate of how many owls would be killed by the logging. The court said the statement also had no “trigger” for keeping track of whether too many owls were being killed.

The statement supported a permit for timber sales in the Rogue River Basin.