Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON STATE : Plan Seeks Extinction of Owl in Two Areas

The government would allow the northern spotted owl to die off in parts of Washington state under a plan being promoted by Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) to save logging jobs, a Senate aide said. Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. is considering various owl-recovery tactics, and Gorton is urging him to support one that would allow the bird to become extinct on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Cascade Mountains north of Interstate 90, the aide said. Efforts would be made to trap the owl in those areas and transfer the birds to protected old-growth habitat in the Cascades south of I-90.