Beyond the Spotted Owl Problem: Learning from the Old-Growth Controversy

Authors

Alyson C. Flournoy, University of Florida Levin College of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1993

OCLC FAST subject heading

Environment law

Abstract

This Article is a case study of a single controversy that has been raging in the Pacific Northwest: the now infamous dispute over logging in publicly owned old-growth forests and the attendant threat to the northern spotted owl. The spotted owl, confronting extinction, sits at the center of the controversy, but the debate extends far beyond the fate of the owl, raising issues about the intrinsic value of unique and native ecosystems and the long-term consequences of logging practices on our public lands on the one hand, and about the costs of environmental protection and economic transition on the other.

Recommended Citation

Alyson C. Flournoy, Beyond the Spotted Owl Problem: Learning from the Old-Growth Controversy, 17 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 261 (1993), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/655