Maybe cutting down over 95% of first growth private forests, and a significant amount of the harvestable forest on public lands, over just the last 100 years has something to do with the loss of forests and forest jobs?

Mechanization has indeed also wiped out the other 90% of former lumber jobs, as others have rightly pointed out, just like jobs in RR's and other industries who have used technology to replace labor, and increase productivity.

And, as usual, we have two or three people who understand this, and a half a dozen or so, who need a scapegoat (or perhaps a "scape-owl"?) to blame, or a vast evil "gubmint" conspiracy to explain the more obvious and fundamental reality of a "supply problem" with our now much more limited supply of no longer "cheap" trees.....

Free trade is good for American consumers and American producers, giving us products we want, and need, and by forcing US manufacturers to compete in world markets and become more efficient, leading to a stronger economy. Protectionism, especially in this case, kills jobs, potentially hundreds of thousands, in construction, by raising the cost of construction and housing, by using evil "gubmint" intervention to protect and raise short term profits for a handful of lumber mills. And, just how do you think all of those Canadian tourists are able to pay for their trip to Disneyland, creating American jobs?

Owls are among the least of the lumber industries long term problems. Mature, quality, cheap trees are long gone, and that is a far bigger problem. We have systematically raped the northwestern forests for most of the last 100 years, for short term gains, at the expense of long term forest productivity.