PORTLAND — Federal protections for the northern spotted owl are again heading to court.

The American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group, along with counties in Oregon, Washington and California, are challenging the Biden administration’s decision to delay removing millions of acres of critical habitat for the threatened species.

The lawsuit was filed March 5, and includes the Association of O&C Counties, representing local governments that benefit from timber revenues generated from Oregon and California Revested Lands sprawled across Western Oregon.

Several other counties, including Douglas County in Oregon, Siskiyou County in California, and Lewis and Skamania counties in Washington, also joined the lawsuit individually.

It is the latest twist in the saga over protections for the spotted owl, which was listed as a threatened species in 1990.

Initially, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set aside 6.9 million acres of critical habitat in old-growth forests along the Pacific Coast where the birds nest. That was reduced to 5.8 million acres in 2008, before increasing to 9.5 million acres under a new management plan for the species in 2012 — an area roughly twice the size of New Jersey.

The AFRC led a group of plaintiffs challenging the expanded habitat designation, and in 2018 the USFWS agreed to reexamine protections for the spotted owl.

At first, the agency proposed removing 205,000 acres of critical habitat in 15 Western Oregon counties. But then, days before leaving office, the Trump administration approved a 3.5-million acre reduction, nearly one-third of the total habitat designation.

Lawson Fite, an attorney for the AFRC, said the Trump administration’s ruling lifted logging restrictions in areas where there are, in fact, no owls currently nesting and were previously set aside for timber in the Northwest Forest Plan.

“The 2021 designation aligns (northern spotted owl) critical habitat with federal law, modern forest science, and common sense at a time when unprecedented and severe wildfires threaten both owls and people from Northern California to Washington state,” Fite said.

However, the Biden administration recently announced it would delay implementation of the rule from March 16 to April 15, pending further review.

A spokesman for the Interior Department said the Trump administration’s decision “was conducted without public input or scientific basis,” and robust critical habitat protections are essential to preserving the species.

According to the lawsuit, the delay was illegal because the public was not notified, and the Interior Department did not provide a reasonable, lawful justification for doing so.

”We are challenging the delay because it violates federal laws and wrongfully restricts timber harvests on non-(owl) habitat,” Fite said. “The delay also restricts the use of active forest management tools that help reduce the risks of severe wildfires — the kind that burned over 560 square miles of suitable nesting roosting spotted owl habitat in Oregon last year.”

A study conducted last year by the AFRC determined that timber losses due to the expanded habitat designation cost between $753 million and $1.18 billion and more than 1,000 jobs over the last 20 years.

”It’s time to move past failed paradigms and pursue better outcomes for people, forests and wildlife,” Fite said. “The 2021 designation recognizes that what’s good for our forests, is good for the owl and our communities.”