CHILLIWACK, B.C. - A conservation group says loggers are cutting down trees in an area of B.C.'s Fraser Valley that's inhabited by the spotted owl, one of Canada’s most endangered species.

Wilderness Committee policy director Gwen Barlee says logging company Tamihi (tama-high) was issued a cutting permit on Tuesday for the area near Chilliwack.

She calls the logging irresponsible and outrageous because there are fewer than 10 spotted owls living in the wild in British Columbia and the logging is happening in a designated wildlife habitat area created to protect the little birds.

Barlee says B.C. residents have been misled about the government's efforts to protect the owls because the land was designated as a wildlife habitat area less than a year ago.

B.C. is the only place spotted owls are found in Canada, and Barlee says both the provincial and federal governments have promised to save the owls.

She says local residents are holding a vigil across from the cutblocks to observe and protest the logging.