Twenty-one years after the spotted owl was listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, the federal government released a proposed recovery strategy identifying critical habitat for the old-growth forest dependent owl. The strategy reinstates about 200,000 hectares of the owl’s critical habitat in southwest B.C. that was quietly erased from maps in a draft recovery strategy last year. …The updated recovery strategy includes an additional 200,000 hectares of spotted owl critical habitat that was not erased from maps — for a total of 416,258 hectares of critical habitat on federal and non-federal lands. The environmental law charity Ecojustice, non-profit conservation group the Wilderness Committee and Spô’zêm First Nation hailed the updated recovery strategy as a “game-changer for conservation efforts” for the spotted owl and a “historic win.” …The release of the proposed recovery strategy launches a 60-day consultation period. A final recovery strategy will be published once consultations are complete.

Additional coverage by Stefan Labbé, the Wilderness Committee, Ecojustice, and the Government of Canada Strategy document.