(Undated) -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials are moving ahead with a plan that will see as many as 450-thousand barred owls killed in Washington, Oregon and California over the next 30 years. Federal officials say the effort will encompass roughly 23 thousand acres spread out over the three West Coast states, ostensibly to prevent the extinction of the region's spotted owl. Authorities say the plan is to reduce the population of barred owls to a level at which both raptor species can thrive throughout the states' wooded areas.