With Deadline Approaching, Lewis County Officials Hire Consultant for Spotted Owl Argument

Lewis County will pay approximately $6,000 to local consulting firm Hamer Environmental in an attempt to convince US Fish and Wildlife Services to release more land protected for the northern spotted owl, a threatened species. 

Lewis County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecutor Eric Eisenberg told county commissioners Tuesday that Matt Reed, a biologist and the firm’s vice president, will write up three to five pages which will be incorporated into the county’s public comment to the USFWS. The argument will focus on how some of the protected land in Lewis County has been logged recently, and hosts too many invasive barred owls, therefore presenting less-than-ideal habitat for the northern spotted owl anyway.

Eisenberg called the $6,000 fee “very reasonable,” telling commissioners that Skamania and Klickitat county would likely be willing to split it three ways, as both counties are also working to free up more land for logging activities. The county hopes to release about 20,000 acres from the “critical habitat” designation, which spans 9.5 million acres across the West Coast, including 50,000 in Lewis County.

Lewis County has teamed up with neighboring counties before on the same issue.

“It’s in their best interests too,” Commissioner Gary Stamper said Tuesday, noting that the counties should “make sure we get as much as we possibly can.”

Although Skamania and Klickitat counties have not officially agreed to help pay the fee, county commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with the contract, in the hope that the counties will reimburse them later. The move was spurred by the quickly-approaching deadline for public comment — parties have until Oct. 13 to make their case.

“Between Eric and myself, we’ll try to go out and recoup some of that cost for you,” County Manager Erik Martin said.