Defender,

This week, a feathered hitchhiker came to New York bundled up in a Christmas tree with an important reminder about the importance of our nation’s forests.

The little saw-whet owl, aptly named Rockefeller, arrived with this year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which had been taken from a forest in upstate New York.

Roughly the size of an American robin, saw-whet owls are among the smallest members of the owl family. Like so many forest creatures, these owls depend on healthy forests for their survival.

Rockefeller’s arrival highlights the dire threats posed to those forests and wildlife: This past Thursday, the lame duck Trump administration finalized a rule making it easier to expand logging and other harmful activities within America’s treasured national forests.

This little owl is currently recovering at a wildlife rehab center in preparation for his release back into the wild. In the meantime, it’s up to us to keep fighting to save the forests that owls like Rockefeller call home!