Dollars and Sense: The Economic Rationale to Protect Spotted Owl Habitat in British Columbia
Published by:
David Suzuki Foundation and partners
Authored by:
Duncan Knowler,
Kristin Dust
Partners:
EcoJustice,
Western Canada Wilderness Committee
Biodiversity owls, conservation, economics, species at risk, British Columbia, land use, industry, forests
This document presents some of the key findings of a detailed economic study of forests inhabited by the endangered spotted owl. The study, led by Duncan Knowler, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management, looks at the economics of protecting old-growth forests inhabited or known to have been home to the spotted owl, one of the most endangered forest-dwelling bird species on the North American continent.
Spotted owls are endangered because they require old-growth forests for their habitat, and old-growth forests have become increasingly rare due to logging and human settlement. In Canada, the owl species is found only in British Columbia and only then in a small area in the southwest corner of the province.
The full study, The Economics of Protecting Old Growth Forest: An Analysis of Spotted Owl Habitat in the Fraser Timber Supply Area of B.C., is also available.
