Abstract

Recently, the federal government has decided to permit the killing of approximately 470,900 barred owls over the next 30 years to save the northern spotted owl. I argue under ideal circumstances, we should not kill the barred owl to save the northern spotted owl since there are other ways to conserve old-growth forests, which capture and store an enormous amount of carbon. However, given current political realities, I contend that barred owls should be killed subject to substantive caveats.