3.5 million acres removed from northern spotted owl critical habitat By Claudia Yaw, The Chronicle, Centralia Published: January 16, 2021, 6:21pm Share: Jan. 15–In a win for the timber industry, “critical habitat” designated for the threatened northern spotted owl will shrink significantly — by about 3.5 million acres — in the Pacific Northwest. The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes after Lewis, Skamania and Klickitat counties teamed up with a lumber lobbying group, the American Forest Resource Council, in an attempt to chip away at the designation....