A few kilometres down a muddy trail snaking through old-growth Douglas firs and cedars, Jared Hobbs stops and tilts his head back. A moment later, he lets out a resounding whoop. “Hoo … hoo, hoo … howoooo!” It’s the four-note call of a northern spotted owl, and it seems to hang in the muggy August air like an echo. Which, in a way, it is.

The trail leads through a deep valley on the edge of the Cascade Mountains, once a stronghold for spotted owls. Before European contact, there were an estimated 1,000 spotted owls in Canada, all of them in southwestern British Columbia. Hobbs, who has the slightly dishevelled look of a seasoned wildlife biologist, has spent more time observing them than likely anyone else in the country. Known for their polka-dotted plumage, spotted owls tend to be reclu

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