Native to eastern North America, barred owls invaded and occupied the range of northern and California spotted owls in recent times. The invasion of competitively dominant barred owls poses an existential threat to spotted owls and is likely adversely affecting many other native species. Lethal removals are currently the most effective tool for curbing barred owl populations, but whether they can be implemented effectively to recover spotted owl populations across the State of California is uncertain. To test the feasibility of state-wide barred owl management, we have initiated a removal study that encompasses all national forests and national parks in the Sierra Nevada and many landownerships from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Oregon border. Here we report on the number and locations of barred owl removals across the state and preliminary findings of recolonization patterns by spotted owls. We also discuss challenges and opportunities confronting the implementation of barred owl management in California. Finally, we describe a suite of other questions related to the rapid invasion of this generalist predator that we propose to address using biological samples collected from lethal removals.