Between The Bars

“To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.”― Douglas Adams

The Barred Owl is a highly adaptable species of owl endemic to eastern North America. Their range began to expand beyond the Mississippi river to the western coast of the US around the turn of the 20th century.
Because the Barred Owl has a broad diet and can adapt to a variety of habitats, the species has inadvertently pushed birds with more specialized diet and habitat requirements, like the Northern Spotted Owl (see my last post), out of their native habitats. The Northern Spotted Owl depends on old growth forest to thrive. Barred Owls also prefer wooded areas, but they can tolerate pockets of wooded urban areas just fine.

Competition in nature is fierce, and the survival of a species is dependent on their ability to cope with various environmental changes over time. While humans have been busy rapidly altering the natural landscape of North America over the past century, many species have been unable to keep up with these drastic changes. Old growth forest, as the name implies, can’t simply be restored in one, or even 2 or 3, human lifetimes.

The point of all of this is that these two owls are caught in the crosshairs of a heated debate between scientists, conservationists, and the logging industry about what the future should look like.

Ultimately, this is an issue of land, and of humanity’s historic disregard of it. Without the protection of old growth habitat and somehow managing direct competitors like the Barred Owl, the Northern Spotted Owl will vanish.

Is this simply “survival of the fittest?” Or do humans have an inherent responsibility to try our best to help all species survive–especially since we are the ones who so quickly destroyed their land in the first place? How can we balance the desires of industry versus the needs for a functioning ecosystem?

As it stands, the Barred Owl is facing heavy culling to manage their population over the next decade. My head and heart are at odds with this decision, as they are with so many other complex conservation issues.

As Douglas Adams cheekily surmised, people certainly are a problem. But people can also be the solution.

Graphite on cotton paper
12″x18″