In 1993, Williams ruled against timber interests when the endangered spotted owl was at risk of extinction.

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The group engaged in a very public fight to save the spotted owl at the expense of timber jobs.

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The notorious spotted owl, which has caused several presidents grief, does not live only in old-growth forests, as was once thought.

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Celebrities like actor Woody Harrelson were arrested at demonstrations that also protested the danger to the spotted owl and marbled murrelet populations.

FORBES: Timber!

In 1994, for example, Congress passed the Northwest Forest Plan, a measure that reduced logging on public lands partly in order to protect the northern spotted owl.

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Some unfairly point out that the spotted owl protection effort killed logging and created ghost towns throughout the Pacific Northwest, only to later discover that the kindness campaign made little difference.

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"A single bird seen on a large open flat about half a mile west of town, " Loring scribbled on June 5, 1897, upon seeing a northern spotted owl in Donner Summit, California.

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Show me a smart, competent young professional woman who is utterly derailed by a verbal unwanted sexual advance or an inappropriate comment about her appearance, and I will show you a rare spotted owl.

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The Rinjani Scops owl was first identified in 2003 and has since been spotted only on Lombok island, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the popular resort island of Bali.

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