The spotted owl is again at the center of an environmental and economic controversy.
You may recall when the federal government killed thousands of timber industry jobs in the 1990s by forbidding logging on millions of acres in the Pacific Northwest -- in the name of saving the spotted owl.
The effort failed. That particular variety of spotted owl continued its march toward extinction despite the ban, because it was under attack by the more aggressive barred owl, which sometimes killed spotted owls and often decimated their food supply.
Halting logging didn't help the spotted owls, but it harmed the livelihood of many middle-class Americans.
Now, a federal judge has ordered that several timber operations in Arizona and New Mexico be shut down -- again, for fear of harming a particular type of spotted owl. The operations will be halted until various federal agencies go through time-consuming steps to consider the possible effect on the owls.
But ironically, there are indications that the owls may be thriving in the forests despite logging. And there are sound public safety reasons for at least some of the logging projects. One is an effort to reduce overgrown forests that are extremely dangerous if they are struck by wildfires. Another is necessary to maintain utility services for people in the region.
But environmental "what ifs" appear to be trumping legitimate concerns about jobs and safety.