ENVIRONMENT

Poll Finds Jobs More Important Than Spotted Owl: A majority of people in the Pacific Northwest believes that the potential loss of jobs is too great a price to pay for protecting the northern spotted owl and old-growth timber, according to a poll sponsored by the Timber Industry Labor Management Committee. Even balancing the states’ budgets was considered more important by the 600 adults polled by Cambridge Reports, of Cambridge, Mass. In the survey, 68% of those responding said setting aside large forest areas to protect the owl and old-growth timber would have a large negative economic impact.