Overview
- The Senate rejected Sen. John Kennedy’s Congressional Review Act resolution 72–25, keeping the Biden-era owl management rule in force.
- The plan, approved last year by the Fish and Wildlife Service, authorizes killing up to roughly 450,000 barred owls over about three decades to reduce pressure on northern spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest.
- The issue scrambled alliances, with timber interests, many environmental groups and several tribes backing the cull, while animal welfare advocates and some lawmakers opposed it as inhumane and ineffective.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum urged Kennedy to withdraw the resolution, according to the senator, and the final tally reflected cross-party support for retaining the rule.
- Logging advocates warned that overturning the rule could have forced new Endangered Species Act consultations, delaying Bureau of Land Management timber sales and local revenues in western Oregon.