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CORVALLIS, Ore. - When E. Charles "Chuck" Meslow came to Oregon State University in 1971, he was looking forward to studying predation habits by hawks and owls. Little did he know that his science would be scrutinized by loggers, corporate CEOs, environmental groups, the news media, Congress and the courts.

Then again, nearly 35 years ago, few people had heard of the northern spotted owl.

In his long and distinguished career, Meslow tried to focus on science and avoid politics - which wasn't easy, serving on the Interagency Scientific Committee charged with developing management options addressing the conservation needs of the northern spotted owl. For his contributions to wildlife ecology, he was presented this fall with the prestigious Aldo Leopold Award by The Wildlife Society.

Meslow says he is humbled by the award, which is the highest the society presents.

"Seeing your name there with some of the pioneers and innovators of our profession is really special," Meslow said. "But I don't look at this as an individual award. It really recognizes all of the good work of the people I've collaborated with - professional colleagues and our truly wonderful graduate students."

During his three-decade career at OSU, Meslow directed or worked for the Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, a multi-agency collaborative based in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the university's College of Agricultural Sciences. In addition to OSU, support for the unit came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (later replaced by the U.S. Geological Survey), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Wildlife Management Institute, a private organization representing the arms and ammunition industry.

"From the initiation of the unit on, there were no constraints on the science that we pursued," Meslow said. "Sometimes it was a pain having four different 'bosses' to satisfy, but to their credit, they never told us what to do. And they, along with agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and BLM, were the ones who funded us; we never got a cent from environmental groups."

Meslow said the biologists honed in on what the most important questions were that needed to be addressed. For the northern spotted owl, that initially meant looking at how much land was needed to sustain a breeding population, and what condition the habitat needed to be in.

Later, Meslow said, the research evolved into a more holistic look at how the owls were faring.

"Our focus was always on the federal land base," Meslow said. "The private lands we wrote off, because managing private lands for owls would not have been to the owners' financial advantage. I think that may have been a mistake on our part - an over-generalization."

The biologists found that to prosper the northern spotted owl needed large tracts of big, old trees. The political decisions that followed reverberated around the country, said W. Daniel Edge, head of the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and a member of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.

"The policy debate that arose out of the listing of the species often became very emotional and heated," Edge said. "Chuck Meslow took a lot of heat as the messenger, but he was always focused on what the science said, and he conducted himself to the highest ethical standards."

Meslow said that while he and other biologists were never told how to conduct their science, they felt pressure to find the minimum number of acres to set aside for the protection of the owl.

"Initially, we just made a flat-out guess and said 300 acres, lacking anything better," Meslow said. "And there was an immediate, loud screaming sound from the people who wanted to get at the timber. Eventually, as soon as we could get radio transmitters on the birds, things changed. We found out that their range was actually much greater, and they needed 1,500 to 3,000 or 4,000 acres, depending on location and habitat conditions. So, despite the hue and cry, we initially underestimated the needs."

Now some two decades later, Meslow says the plan seems to be working. The biologists had predicted a lag effect that would cause continued decline in owl numbers for some time before populations stabilized. And that is exactly what appears to be happening, he added.

"We're 15 years into a very conservative management plan, and I think we're on the cusp of when the decrease slows, and populations level off," Meslow said. "I don't think they'll increase, but if they stabilize, the owls will be fine. But there are some big 'ifs' out there, including the impact of the barred owl, a recent invader from the east and kissing cousin to the spotted owl that threatens to crowd it out."

Meslow admits he has a special affection for northern spotted owls -- and not because it is the species to which his name will be linked for a long time.

"They are absolutely wonderful animals - the best species to work with that I've ever known," Meslow said. "You can talk to them. If you go out in February and March and hoot at them, they'll answer, approach and come down to a branch 10 feet away from you. It allows you to read their colored bands and identify them as individuals. When they're breeding, they're quite aggressive. I've seen them take mice right out of scientists' hands."