PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A group of bipartisan Oregon state lawmakers are calling on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to stop a federal plan to kill invasive barred owls in the Pacific Northwest.

The lawmakers sent a letter to Musk and Ramaswamy on Monday, asking for assistance from the leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency, a new agency under the upcoming Trump administration.

The group of lawmakers behind the letter includes Rep. Ed Diehl (R-Linn and Marion counties), Rep. David Gomberg (D-Lincoln and Western Benton/Lane counties), Rep. Virgle Osborne, (R-Douglas County) and Senator-elect Bruce Starr (R-Yamhill and Polk counties), who call the federal plan "impractical."

DON'T MISS: Oregon Congresswoman joins DOGE Caucus inspired by Musk, Ramaswamy-led department

The plan -- which is outlined in a 2024 Environmental Impact Statement from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service -- aims to reduce competition between invasive barred owls and the Northern and California spotted owls by killing 450,000 barred owls over the course of 30 years.

According to the USFWS, the "western invasion of barred owls" began in the early 1900s amid European settlement and "subsequent human-caused changes" in the Great Plains and north boreal forest. By the early 1970s, barred owls arrived in spotted owl territory in the Pacific Northwest and continue to expand into the Cascades and coastal mountains.

Amid the westward expansion, the plan states, “Lethal removal of barred owls from identified management areas is the only population reduction method that is proven to work in reducing barred owl populations, thereby improving spotted owl population response.”

In their letter to the Trump transition team, the Oregon lawmakers argued that the plan is "wasteful," and cited the barred owl's protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act -- and the plan's $1.35 billion price tag -- among the reasons to stop it.

“The plan to kill upwards of 450,000 barred owls over a 30-year time horizon and across vast reaches of private and public lands in three states is thoroughly impractical,” the lawmakers wrote. “It just cannot work, and it won’t work. It is a budget buster, with one well-grounded estimate putting the cost of the plan at $1.35 billion over the intended life of the project.”

In a statement, Rep. Diehl said, “A billion-dollar price tag for this project should get the attention of everyone on the Trump team concerned about government efficiency,” adding, “Killing one type of owl to save another is outrageous and doomed to fail. This plan will swallow up Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars for no good reason.”

Rep. Gomberg, furthered, "This simply isn't a sound strategy - fiscally or ecologically." He added, "As a staunch animal-welfare advocate and a believer in evidence-based policy, I cannot support a plan that calls on taxpayers to front $45 million a year to cull a protected species. We certainly need to better address the decline we've seen in our spotted owl population, but this is not the way to do it."

Throughout the letter, the lawmakers noted if DOGE does not stop the plan, the lawmakers will ask federal lawmakers to advance a Congressional Review Act resolution to "unwind" the plan.