Many years ago I lived in the Midwest but worked for a large timber company with most of its timber in the Pacific Northwest. I remember going to Washington, D.C., to argue on behalf of the company that the timber industry was not responsible for the decline in the population of the spotted owl. That was to no avail and as a result the timber industry in the Northwest, including Washington, was destroyed.

Now that the bad tree cutters are no longer harvesting wood we are told in the Dec. 9 Herald that the barred owls are responsible for the continued decline in spotted owl population and the federal government is considering destroying them. (“Feds consider killing barred owls to save spotted owls.”)

Too bad they don’t have people to go to our nation’s capital to argue for their lives … but then, I guess it wouldn’t help them.

Tom Balt

Snohomish