Northern spotted owl is in steep decline in Washington

Published 1:30 am Monday, November 17, 2025

In an interview with TVW, Julia Smith, endangered species recovery manager at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the once widespread owls have all but disappeared.

“They used to occur all throughout the Cascade Mountain range and on the eastern slope of the Cascades, down into southwest Washington, and then up through the Olympic Peninsula,” said Smith. “They will no longer have enough individuals to breed and reproduce and repopulate within the next decade without immediate intervention.”

Federal wildlife officials say that even in areas with excellent spotted owl habitat, invasive barred owls are wiping them out. Once limited to the eastern United States, barred owls spread west of the Rockies during the 20th century.

A plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls for killing the larger, more aggressive barred owls in areas where they compete with the endangered northern spotted owls. Under the plan, trained personnel would enter forested areas with current or potential spotted owl nesting sites to eliminate barred owls with overlapping territories.

The USFWS environmental impact statement allows for the killing of up to half a million barred owls, though Smith says that is not a realistic figure.

“This plan actually just allows agencies to apply for a permit so that they are able to implement this action to save spotted owls,” she explained.

There has been some public pushback to the barred owl culling strategy, but the controversial proposal appears ready to move forward after an opposition measure failed in the U.S. Senate last month.

The barred owl removal is a federal plan, but Smith says WDFW experts were consulted to shape the strategy.

“Spotted owls have significant ability to bounce back after those barred owls are removed from their territory. So this strategy is based on very good science,” said Smith.

Although the plan has technically been approved, it remains unclear when the cull might begin.

“Even if the strategy is implemented, barred owls will not be removed from your backyard. They wouldn’t be removed from city parks,” said Smith. “Barred owl control would happen in places that most people probably won’t ever go — wilderness areas where spotted owls need to live.”