, March 11 -- A bipartisan group of lawmakers has called on the Trump administration to abandon its plan to kill over 450,000 invasive barred owls in West Coast forests, arguing that it would be excessively costly.

The lawmakers, numbering 19 and including Republican Rep. Troy Nehls from Texas and Democrat Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove from California, said the plan would cost $3,000 per owl.

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They questioned whether the killings would benefit the native northern spotted owl populations, which have been controversial due to logging restrictions in their habitats since the 1990s, as well as the closely related California spotted owl.

Barred owls, native to eastern North America, ...