SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Federal wildlife officials are proposing classifying one of two dwindling California spotted owl populations as endangered. The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes after a lawsuit by multiple conservation groups required the government to reassess a Trump administration decision not to protect the brown and white birds. The agency on Wednesday proposed that California spotted owls that have their habitats in coastal and Southern California be protected under the Endangered Species Act. It says the other California spotted owl population, which lives in Sierra Nevada forests in California and western Nevada, would be classified as threatened.
