Twenty-one years after the spotted owl was listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, on Thursday the federal government released a proposed recovery strategy identifying critical habitat for the old-growth forest dependent owl. The strategy reinstates about 200,000 hectares of the owl’s critical habitat in southwest B.C. that was quietly erased from maps in a draft recovery strategy last year, following consultations with the B.C. government. Federal scientists identified the critical habitat as necessary for the owl’s recovery and survival. The updated recovery strategy includes an additional 200,000 hectares of spotted owl critical habitat that was not erased from maps — for a total of 416,258 hectares of critical habitat on federal and non-federal lands.The environmental law charity Ecojustice, non-profit conservation group the Wilderness Committee and Spô’zêm First Nation hailed the updated recovery strategy as a “game-changer for conservation efforts” for the spotted owl and a “historic win.” “Our ancestors taught us the spotted owl is our messenger between this world and the spirit world and how they speak to us, and this new recovery strategy gives them a chance at survival,” Spô’zêm First Nation Chief James Hobart said in a statement. “It’s regrettable how much time has passed in this process and how many owls were lost.” But the new draft strategy shows the federal government is listening, Hobart told The Narwhal. “It means that the government is taking a stronger position with species at risk than they have in the past.”“Is it enough? Well, we’ll see,” he said.

Source: Feds propose to protect critical spotted owl habitat size of 1,000 Stanley Parks | The Narwhal