The California Board of Forestry is deciding whether or not to improve Spotted Owl protections by adopting EPIC’s rulemaking petition.
The public is welcome to attend the hearing on Wednesday July 10th beginning at 8:00am in the Resources Auditorium, 1416 Ninth Street Sacramento, California; or watch online, click here to register.
The rulemaking petition is the product of over three years of EPIC Northern Spotted Owl advocacy aimed at challenging the glaring inconsistencies between the inadequate protection measures found in California’s Forest Practice Rules and the clear guidelines provided by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, backed up by even clearer legal precedent from the United States Supreme Court.
The native Northern Spotted Owl is facing a dire emergency. Thousands of acres of forests, which provide habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl, have been lost to industrial forestry operations. Spotted Owls are losing their homes and facing extinction—despite protections under the federal Endangered Species Act. Because Spotted Owls cannot defend themselves from this onslaught, and because their presence or absence in a forest is an indicator of ecosystem health, EPIC has stepped up to speak for the owl.
The Specifics:
Amend Title 14 § 919.9, § 939.9 – Northern Spotted Owl [Coast, Northern Forest Districts] and § 919.9(g), § 939.9(g) – Northern Spotted Owl [Coast, Northern Forest Districts]. The California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) is hearing a regulation to amend existing Forest Practice Rules pertaining to the protection of Northern Spotted Owls (NSO). The proposed amendments are in response to a petition for rulemaking brought before the Board by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) pursuant to Government Code Section 11340.6. In its petition for rulemaking, EPIC advocates for the deletion in its entirety of 14 CCR Section 919.9 [939.9] subsection (g). EPIC contends that this provision of the Forest Practice Rules has resulted in “take” of a federally listed species and must be removed from regulation to ensure the continued existence of NSO.
Possible Action Item:
The Board may adopt, modify, or reject the proposed regulation.
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