The northern spotted owl, which used to be one of the stars of the environmental movement in our region, is getting precious little respect these days in British Columbia.

Perhaps that’s at least partly because we have so few of them. A report released last month by the Spotted Owl Population Enhancement Team and reported in the Globe and Mail estimated that just 25 owls remain in the wild in B.C., the only remaining home of spotted owls in Canada. Most of those are individuals, not breeding pairs. What’s more, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) recently noted that in the region including the North Shore, Lillooet and Birkenhead river valleys, home to at least 30 historic patches of spotted-owl habitat, only one confirmed spotted owl sighting occurred in 2008, that at Billygoat Creek.

WCWC, which has been focusing attention on the owl’s plight, recently led a group of French cyclists through this same region, “formerly the stronghold of spotted owls in B.C.” WCWC decries B.C. government policy that continues to allow active logging and development of run-of-river power projects in designated spotted owl habitat patches, including those at S&M Creek and Fire Mountain, both southeast of Pemberton. Over the past two summers WCWC has established camps near the two sites to protest industrial-scale activity that the group says is endangering their habitat in direct contravention of Canada’s Species At Risk Act.

“Regardless whether spotted owls still exist at Fire Mountain, which looks increasingly doubtful, these sites from which spotted owls have only recently disappeared should be prioritized for protection, not logged, so that young owls bred in captivity have suitable wild areas for release,” Andy Miller, WCWC staff scientist, said in a statement released this week.

Miller’s comments make reference to the B.C. government’s policy, adopted in 2006, of capturing and breeding pairs of owls in captivity in the hope of re-introducing the offspring in the wild. While commendable in its aims, we agree with WCWC that it doesn’t go nearly far enough — that in addition to such a program, we need strong, viable protection of the owls’ habitat if we’re to have a hope of rescuing the owl from its precipitous decline in Canada. Clearly, we’re not getting that now.

Why should we care? As with many other species of plants and animals, the owls are considered an indicator species whose numbers serve as a gauge of the overall health of B.C.’s environment.

The same Globe and Mail article included an estimate that some 7,000 spotted owls exist in the U.S. in northern California, Oregon and Washington — but that the owls are still considered threatened there because of recent and continued declines in their populations. Another article, from the Seattle Times, quoted an expert as having said Bush administration policy with regard to the owls was a “train wreck,” and urged the Obama administration to take a more aggressive stance toward owl-habitat protection.

The situation, though, is far more dire in B.C., mostly because of lax policies with regard to clear-cut logging and energy development in and around areas where the owls are known to have lived. According to Miller, “Luckily, the remaining spotted owl site at Billygoat Creek is in Garibaldi Provincial Park. Otherwise, I expect the B.C. government would be sanctioning logging in its habitat, too.”

Captive breeding programs are only one part of a last-ditch effort to save the owls in Canada. Habitat protection is also needed, and if we are going to have designated owl habitat patches, we should respect their integrity.