[Tweeters] WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Biden plan to shoot 450, 000 owls at $3, 000 each under fire

[Char via Tweeters]

Thank you, Steve, that's really interesting and good to know.  Thanks for
doing that leg work!

On Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 5:33 AM Steve Hampton via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> Last year I wrote an article about this that explains a few key things

> that I think most of the media and public misunderstood: No, They’re not

> Really Going to Shoot 450,000 Owls

> <https://www.postalley.org/2024/09/12/no-theyre-not-really-going-to-shoot-450000-owls/>

>

>

> First, it was never a "plan;" it was a permit. And it never came with any

> funding or staffing. And it was reliant on partner agencies (federal,

> state, county, tribal) to opt in - on their own dime. It came with no cost

> estimate (I read the whole EIS and related documents and interviewed the

> USFWS about it).

>

> Second, the 450,000 number was always an absurdity. The permit evaluation

> required an upper bound; that was it. They put it in the executive summary

> and the media ran with it. That works out to killing about 80 owls per

> night, every night, for 30 years - an absurdity because it's quite labor

> intensive, limited by seasons, and slow-going. The permit itself notes that

> Barred Owl removal would be largely limited to areas with known Spotted Owl

> territories, of which there are VERY FEW. Even removing a few Barred Owls

> per night seems a stretch.

>

> To my knowledge, Olympic NP, one of the places where it would make some

> sense in a few contexts (which I can count on one hand), had not decided to

> participate. This was probably due to staffing issues even before Trump

> took office. In northern Calif, CDFW and the Yurok Tribe (near Redwood NP)

> had received modest federal grants to fund limited participation. Again, it

> was slow-going and labor intensive, working out to $3000 per bird. That's

> no surprise (see my article).

>

> The current Washington Examiner article is among the most misleading. It

> offers none of the context above and relies on the dubious statements of a

> Texas Republican, who apparently took the $3000 figure, multiplied it by

> the 450,000 permit cap, and assumed "Biden" had allocated those funds. Yes,

> 450,000 x $3,000 = $1.35 billion. But no and no and no. It's fantasy

> Trumpian math.

>

> With or without the current fiscal assault on the federal government, this

> was never a plan with funding nor staffing and was always going to be

> implemented in an anemic piece-meal fashion. That's the reality, no matter

> where you stand on the actual permit.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> On Fri, Jul 25, 2025 at 12:55 AM Dan Reiff via Tweeters <

> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>

>> Well, Tweeters, what do you think of this?

>> Dan Reiff

>> Note: As always, if you do not have an Apple phone or computer, or the

>> link cannot be opened, copy and paste the subject headline into your

>> Internet browser, like Google or Safari and Search. By this method, you

>> will usually be able to find and view the article.

>>

>> *Biden plan to shoot 450,000 owls at $3,000 each under fire*

>> July 23, 2025 A bipartisan parliament of House and Senate members today

>> is calling on Congress to kill an expensive plan ordered by former

>> President Joe Biden to shoot 450,000 barred owls bullying the endangered

>> northern spotted owl in Northwest forests. A resolution being introduced

>> today, led by Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) in the House and Sen. John Kennedy

>> (R-LA) in the Senate, would trigger the Congressional Review Act and stop

>> the Biden-era initiative. Recommended Stories In addition to saving

>>

>> Read in Washington Examiner: https://apple.news/AfbZ26W90RvO-_Z5sVfgBgw

>>

>>

>> Shared from Apple News <https://www.apple.com/news>

>>

>>

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>

>

> --

> ​Steve Hampton​

> Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)

>

>

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