The northern spotted owl has been vanishing across the Pacific Northwest for decades. But at Point Reyes National Seashore, the species is holding on better than almost anywhere else.
There is currenlty an ongoing monitoring effort at Point Reyes, where biologists continue to track one of the densest and most stable populations of northern spotted owls left in their entire range. Marin County, including Point Reyes, Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Muir Woods National Monument, supports an unusually high concentration of the threatened species.
The reason has a lot to do with geography. The forests of Point Reyes are surrounded by open, rolling grasslands that act as a natural barrier, slowing the spread of barred owls. The larger, more aggressive barred owl has been steadily expanding its range southward along the Pacific coast since the mid-20th century, pushing spotted owls out of habitat from British Columbia to Northern California. In most places, the result has been near-complete replacement…