wpy_story_spottedowls-2913
A large, older tree and piles of deadfall, represent one of the tactics used by Green Diamond Resource Company to help manage their lands for northern spotted owls. They keep their clear-cuts to smaller areas, never exceeding more than a few dozen acres in a particular spot. The taller trees are owl friendly, and the deadfall creates refugia for smaller animals, including prey, to use as cover as they traverse the forest. The hills in the background are timber lands showing long-term patterns of selective harvest and regrowth.