Statement: Government of Canada’s Approach to Addressing the Imminent Threats to the Spotted Owl
Background
The Spotted Owl caurina subspecies (henceforth, the Spotted Owl) is a medium-sized owl with dark brown plumage patterned by small pale spots over most of the body. Spotted Owl is of significant cultural and spiritual importance to some Indigenous peoples. The species has been listed as Endangered under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) since 2003. The species was designated as Endangered due to catastrophic population decline driven by habitat loss and fragmentation and competition from the closely-related Barred Owl (Strix varia), severely depressed population size, and continued vulnerability to ongoing threats.
The Spotted Owl once occurred throughout mixed-coniferous old-growth forests in southwestern British Columbia (B.C.) and may have numbered as many as 500 pairs prior to the impacts of significant human activity. Both the population and the distribution of the Spotted Owl have declined precipitously from historical estimates. As of October 2023, only three individuals are known to exist in the wild in Canada, including two owls that were released from the captive breeding facility in British Columbia. There are also 34 Spotted Owls in captivity. The species also occurs in the United States through western Washington, western Oregon and the west coast of California, south to San Francisco Bay.
Environment and Climate Change Canada published a draft amended Recovery Strategy for the Spotted Owl caurina subspecies (Strix occidentalis caurina) in Canada in January 2023. The population and distribution objective for the species set out in the recovery strategy is to restore a stable population of at least 250 mature individuals distributed within a connected network of habitat representative of all three sub-regions within the species’ historical Canadian range, and linked to the population in the U.S.A.
Imminent threats to the Spotted Owl
In late 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada conducted an imminent threat assessment, focused on threats from logging throughout Spotted Owl habitat. On January 17, 2023, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change (the Minister) formed the opinion that the Spotted Owl was facing imminent threat to both its survival and recovery. Following the extension of the provincial orders deferring logging in the Spuzzum and Utzlius watersheds until February 2025, the Minister determined that the imminent threat to survival noted in the imminent threat assessment had been addressed, but the imminent threats to recovery remained.
Recommendation and decision under section 80 of SARA
Having formed the opinion that Spotted Owl is facing imminent threats to its recovery, the Minister was required under subsection 80(2) of SARA to recommend the making of an emergency order to protect the Spotted Owl.
Having considered:
- the Minister’s recommendation pursuant to subsection 80(2) of SARA
- the province of British Columbia’s commitment, as the lead jurisdiction for Spotted Owl, to pursue its work to protect and recover the Spotted Owl, consistent with its Spotted Owl Management Plan, which includes measures such as a captive breeding and reintroduction program, competitor control, habitat protection and adaptive habitat management
- the successful finalization of the Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation, which provides the impetus for strengthened collaboration with the Government of British Columbia and First Nations on measures to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, including measures to protect and recover Spotted Owl
- the domestic and international commitments and priorities of the Government of Canada, including to the recovery of species at risk; and
- social, economic, and policy factors, including the broader public interest
The Government of Canada has declined to make an emergency order at this time and supports a collaborative approach.
Collaborative approach to address the recovery of the Spotted Owl
A collaborative, stewardship-based approach respects the province’s role in the protection of species at risk and encourages greater collaboration with British Columbia in the recovery efforts for Spotted Owl. This approach seeks to support the continued participation of Indigenous nations and organizations, local communities, and stakeholders in the species’ recovery. The Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia continue to work together on collaborative solutions implemented by British Columbia to mitigate the decline and advance the recovery of the Spotted Owl, including:
- continued support for the Government of British Columbia’s Northern Spotted Owl Captive Breeding Program, which is the first and only program in the world where captive breeding of Spotted Owls is being done. The center is home to 34 owls as of October 2023
- continued support for the Government of British Columbia’s Barred Owl Control Program. This provincial program seeks to control Barred Owl, a species that competes with Spotted Owl, and between 2007 and 2021 had relocated or removed over 150 Barred Owls. The ongoing program includes monitoring of their populations to support Spotted Owl recovery
- to protect the last remaining Spotted Owls in the wild in Canada, British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor in Council made an order on March 3, 2023 specifying areas in the Spuzzum and Utzlius watersheds as Designated Areas under the Forest Act until February 28, 2025, and the Minister of Forests made a ministerial order under the Forest Act suspending existing authorizations and preventing new authorizations for cutting permits within those Designated Areas
- the Government of British Columbia has and continues to signal their support to pursue a collaborative approach, supported and delivered in partnership with Indigenous peoples
- the federal and provincial government, in partnership with First Nations, will work to formalize commitments to protect and recover the Spotted Owl through a conservation agreement related to the Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation between Canada, British Columbia, and the First Nations Leadership Council
The Minister will be closely monitoring the implementation of each of the measures described in this Statement. The Minister has committed to providing a progress update to Cabinet within 12 months and, in appropriate circumstances, the Minister could make a new recommendation for an emergency order to provide for the protection of the Spotted Owl.
Departmental contact
Director, Pacific Region
Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment and Climate Change Canada
RR1, 5421 Robertson Road
Delta BC V4K 3N2