(Olympia, WA)  --  Washington state's public lands commissioner is questioning a federal proposal to shoot down hundreds of thousands of barred owls across the Pacific Northwest in an effort to save the protected northern spotted owl.  Commissioner Hilary Franz sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland this week expressing concern about potential "unintended consequences" of the plan.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the plan would involve enlisting hunters to shoot and kill over 500-thousand barred owls in Washington state and Oregon over the course of 30 years.  Officials say the expansion of the barred owl from the East Coast into the Pacific Northwest over the last several decades has threatened the survival of the smaller northern spotted owl.  The northern spotted owl is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.