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Barred owl removal is moving forward in California and new data suggests that removals are working as intended: freeing up northern spotted owl habitat that was lost to barred owl invasion. A new peer-reviewed paper in the journal Biological Conservation used GPS locators on 56 barred owls in Northern California confirms that barred owls preferentially choose the same older forests that spotted owls require. Slightly larger than spotted owls, barred owls are able to bully spotted owls from their nest sites. Now, barred owls are pervasive across the landscape and the consequences are dire: just this week, another new paper described the spotted owl as “functionally extinct” across much of its range in Washington and Oregon. But through sustained removal efforts, wildlife managers are able to recover substantial amounts of spotted owl habitat, improving the prospects that your kids or grandkids can enjoy a world with northern spotted owls. 

Vitek Jirinec of the Integral Ecology Research Center join the program to discuss.