Protecting Threatened and Endangered Species

There is probably no species more closely associated with our majestic ancient forests than the northern spotted owl. However, unsustainable logging practices used throughout the last century have left only remnants of our old growth ecosystems, and the spotted owl now perches on the edge of extinction.

Streaked Horned Lark
Portland will have an important role to play in recovering a species that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list as Threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act. In October 2012, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced in the Federal Register that the Streaked Horned Lark is “at risk of becoming endangered in the near future” and warrants protection under the Act.

Peregrine falcons, once one of the most endangered species on earth, have been making a phenomenal comeback since 1972. Portland Audubon has worked since 1994 to develop a program to provide monitoring, research, management and educational outreach for the growing population of peregrines nesting in downtown Portland.

Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Audubon Society of Portland have filed a lawsuit in federal court charging that the State of Oregon’s clearcutting practices illegally harm threatened marbled murrelets within the Tillamook, Clatsop and Elliott state forests in violation of the Endangered Species Act.