Oregon Public Broadcasting

A review released Monday says the Bush Administration's spotted owl recovery plan is faulty. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service quickly responded, saying the independent, peer-reviewed reports didn't give the plan a fair shake.

Ethan Lindsey reports on the latest attempt to balance wildlife with logging.

Close but no cigar.

That's what the Wildlife Society, the Society for Conservation Biology and the American Ornithologists Union say about the fed's latest owl recovery plan.

Their report estimates that the endangered spotted owl could lose more than half its current habitat under the plan released in May.

Joan Jewett is a spokeswoman for U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

Joan Jewett: “Their calculation of how much habitat will not be protected is pretty far-off, particularly where they look at what's happening on the eastside of the Cascades."

In fact, Jewett says a workgroup has already been formed to decide what eastern habitat would be preserved.

Environmentalists say this is an example of the Bush administration pushing through major last-minute policy changes.

And the wildlife scientists' owl report could be used to challenge things, possibly delaying the changes until a new administration takes office.