Readers React: Why the post-Rim fire logging plan won’t fly

To the editor: The editorial failed to acknowledge that logging will occur in every home range of the imperiled California spotted owl in the burn area. That is not a reasonable plan. (“A logging plan even an environmentalist can love,” Editorial, Sept. 3)

California spotted owls reflect the health of old-growth forests and watersheds in the Sierra Nevada. Burned forests, including severely burned forests, are also vital to these majestic birds of prey because food is abundant in burned forests. Owls abandon logged areas with no guarantee they can establish homes elsewhere.

Our Rim fire lawsuit asks the court to stop only the logging that would harm California spotted owls, an extremely reasonable request, given their declining populations and pending harm from extensive logging.

The U.S. Forest Service could have easily designed the project to protect California spotted owls while also providing logs to local mills. That would have been a true compromise.

Randi Spivak, Washington

The writer is public lands program director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion