‘The most endangered bird in Canada’: Fight to save B.C.’s spotted owl heads to court

The fight to protect the habitat of some of the last spotted owls in the world is now before a federal court.

The fight to protect the habitat of some of the last spotted owls in the world is now before a federal court.

Lawyers for the environmental charity EcoJustice are challenging the federal government’s delay in issuing an emergency order to stop logging in a 25-square-kilometre patch of the Spuzzum Creek Watershed in British Columbia’s Fraser Canyon.

“It’s actually the most endangered bird in Canada, one of the most endangered species overall,” James Hobart, Chief of the Spuzzum First Nation, told Global News.

There is just one spotted owl left in the wild, two additional owls they released this year and then some in a breeding centre, he said.

Hobart said overlogging of the owls’ habitat is the primary cause of their decline.

Last week, the federal government reversed course on issuing an emergency order to protect the owl.

The decision was outlined in a letter issued by the Canadian Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of Environment.

The letter said the federal government will not bring in an emergency order to prevent logging in two watersheds within Spuzzum Nation territory in B.C.’s lower Fraser River canyon.