In 1990, the northern spotted owl became a symbol of America’s logging wars; 36 years later, scientists say it is already functionally extinct across large swaths of its range

• In 1990, a small bird became an unlikely symbol of one of America’s fiercest environmental battles.
• The northern spotted owl was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the future of vast stretches of old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest at the centre of a bitter fight between environmentalists and the logging industry.
• Thirty-six years later, scientists say the species has reached a far more alarming point.