Comment on FR Doc # 2012-13305

I am writing in support of protecting the mature and old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest which provide numerous economic benefits and are essential to stabilize and recover threatened species such as the Northern Spotted Owl, the Marbled Murrelet and Pacific salmon. These magnificent forests provide clean drinking water for millions of Americans, a world-class tourism, sustainable forestry, and habitat essential to the survival of hundreds of other species. Conservation of the old-growth ecosystem as symbolized by the Northwest Forest Plan was a significant environmental advance that ended decades of unsustainable management practices. Studies show that the plan is working to help recover species - it is providing considerable timber volume - and the highly fragmented forests are growing back into large blocks of habitat needed to maintain water quality and recover threatened species such as the Northern Spotted Owl. The draft Critical Habitat proposal and accompanying Presidential Memorandum raise concern because of the proposed logging in owl critical habitat not supported by science. Three major scientific societies are advising the administration to conduct more research before more owl habitat is lost. We agree with the scientists’ call for caution. The draft includes language allowing for the weakening or protections of the Northwest Forest Plan. The Fish and Wildlife Service must ensure that the protected reserves are maintained. Logging areas now protected by the Northwest Forest Plan, including mature forests that the Plan had intended to become old-growth, should not be allowed. The proposed elimination of the owl reserves as proposed in the Wenatchee plan revision should be opposed by the Service. The necessity and benefits of active management in owl habitat remain in scientific dispute. Active management in owl habitat should be viewed as experimental, conducted on a small scale, and monitored to determine its impact.