A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that barred owl migration is negatively impacting protected species in the U.S.

What's happening?

The study looked at almost 800 barred owls along the West Coast. According to a UW press release, researchers found that these owls currently feed on 29 species that were "given special conservation status by federal and state governments."

The study involved people from several groups, including the U.S. Geological Survey, Sierra Pacific Industries, and the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California. 

The researchers lethally removed 788 barred owls in California, Oregon, and Washington. They identified 162 species in the owls' digestive tracts. These species included animals like bats, quails, and coho salmon, which all have declining populations.

Barred owls could be considered native or invasive depending on where they live.

"They're native to Wisconsin, in our backyard. They've evolved here over the course of millions of years," Zach Peery, the study's co-author and a professor of forest and wildlife ecology at UW-Madison, said in the press release.

Peery continued: "But they are a novel, exotic species in the western United States, and they're having detrimental impacts on biodiversity."

It's important to note that this article was published before peer review. BioRxiv explained that this means the material presented may not have been reviewed by people outside of the study's researchers. While the study has a lot to offer, take its contents with a grain of salt for now.

One thing, however, lends the study credibility. Environmental managers have been thinking about the barred owl conundrum on the West Coast for a while.

Why is the presence of barred owls on the West Coast concerning?

Barred owls live in relative harmony in their native homes located in the eastern U.S. and southern Canada. But on the West Coast, they threaten the northern and California spotted owls.

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While it isn't certain how exactly barred owls got to the West Coast, Conservation Northwest explained a popular theory. Scientists believe that European settlements in the eastern U.S. pushed owls westward through the suppression of Indigenous land management. Eradication of beaver and bison populations and human-caused changes to our climate have likely played roles as well.

While barred owls are harming native animal populations around them, humans have put them in that position. When constructing on or otherwise managing land, it's important to make decisions that keep ecosystems in balance. Otherwise, decision makers will have to spend more time and money on issues that could have been avoided.

What's being done to manage barred owls?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a plan in June 2024 to address this issue. The current solution, unfortunately, involves killing hundreds of thousands of owls over 30 years. Trained professionals will cull the barred owls; hunters are not allowed to target or shoot them.

While some animal welfare groups have spoken out against the solution, other environmental groups support it. Those in favor of the FWS plan also want the northern and California spotted owls to thrive.

"It's incredibly sad to be in this position," said Dave Werntz, Conservation Northwest's science and conservation director, in a news release. "Unfortunately, killing barred owls in parts of the Pacific Northwest is the only feasible, humane, and experimentally validated approach for ensuring the conservation of both owls in their native ecosystems."

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