Conservationists are cautiously encouraged by a federal plan to increase the amount of forest land designated as critical to the northern spotted owl’s survival, while a timber industry representative criticized the expansion as unnecessary. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized last week a spotted owl recovery plan that heightens logging restrictions on 9.6 million acres in Oregon, Washington and Northern California. Most of the land is federal. Many of the private lands and a majority of state lands identified as critical owl habitat in a preliminary plan released in February aren’t in the final plan, reducing it by 4.2 …