Net Conservation Benefits. The following provides a discussion of the net conservation benefit to the spotted owl as a result of the Applicants’ enhanced forest management activities. This discussion will fulfill a requirement of an approved SHA. Management actions with and without the terms and provisions of the SHA are summarized in Table 4-2 at the end of Section 4.3. The Applicants’ objective is to manage the covered area to contribute to the habitat goals of the Columbia Gorge and White Salmon SOSEAs and, thus, contribute to the recovery of the spotted owl, while continuing to receive an economic benefit from forest management operations. More specifically, the SHA is designed to facilitate the dispersal of owls between areas of suitable habitat within the SOSEA and adjacent lands being managed to produce nesting and foraging habitat, i.e., WDNR HCP lands, the Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx National Forest, and the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. In addition, the SHA provides demographic support by 1) providing nest site suitable habitat protection of the only spotted owl site center located on their ownership (similar to the WDNR HCP strategy for the same area) for the term of the SHA, 2) protecting from harvest 411 acres of mature forest along the Little White Salmon River for the term of the SHA, and 3) ensuring that 33% of the covered lands in the White Salmon SOSEA is in owl habitat which supports conservation management activities on adjacent (USFS and WDNR) ownerships. In addition, the Applicants’ slower rate of harvest, longer rotations, harvest deferrals, occupied nest site protections, and the snag and green tree retention program, are expected, in combination, to result in potential habitat available for use by dispersing, foraging, and nesting spotted owls in south-central Washington and north-central Oregon.
Net Conservation Benefits. Some net conservation benefits to RCWs that are expected to result from this Agreement include:
Net Conservation Benefits. The Cooperator’s voluntary conservation measures and management activities will provide one or more of the following net conservation benefits to RCWs on the enrolled property either immediately or in the near future:
Net Conservation Benefits. This Safe Harbor Agreement supports implementation of Recovery Action 29. As USFWS noted in developing the experiment, barred owl competition has the potential to result in continuing and increasing impacts to the spotted owl. “Although northern spotted owl populations have been declining for many years, the presence of barred owls exacerbates the decline. Recent studies (Xxxxx et al. 2005, p. 918; Xxxxxxx et al. 2011, pp. 69-70, 75-76) have established negative relationships between barred owl presence and declines in spotted owl population performance across the range of the subspecies. This could result in the extirpation (local extinction) or near extirpation of the northern spotted owl from a substantial portion of their historical range, even if other known threats, such as habitat loss, continue to be addressed. Given the continuing range expansion and population growth of barred owl populations in the western United States and concurrent decline in northern spotted owl populations, information on the effectiveness of a removal program is urgently needed (USFWS 2013a (FEIS) p. xxiv).” As scientists note, “there are no grounds for optimistic views suggesting that Barred Owl impacts on Northern Spotted Owls have been already fully realized” (Xxxxxxxxx et al. 2004:7-38).” To develop a barred owl management strategy that will conserve spotted owls, the USFWS needs information on feasibility of potential management tools. Biologists and managers have identified barred owl removal as the most realistic and practical tool described to date for such management. Given the controversy around any removal of wildlife, particularly raptors, the USFWS needs clear and credible information on effectiveness and cost of removal as a management tool. To gather the strongest, most credible information from a removal experiment, USFWS chose to conduct the Barred Owl Removal Experiment on ongoing spotted owl demography study areas, utilizing over a decade of pre-treatment data. While these study areas are focused on Federal lands in most cases, they still contain significant interspersed non-federal lands. To complete the experiment in the most efficient and complete manner, USFWS requires access on non-federal roads and the ability to remove barred owls on the non-federal lands within the treatment area. While the experiment may be possible without access to non-federal lands, failure to remove barred owls from portions of the treatment area could reduce the power of th...
Net Conservation Benefits. The Property Owner’s voluntary management activities will provide one or more of the following expected conservation benefits to RCWs:
Net Conservation Benefits. This Agreement between the Service, Permittees and the landowners they represent provides a net conservation benefit to the northern spotted owl, primarily through the growing of high- quality nesting/roosting habitat for northern spotted owls. Assurances in the Agreement provide incentives for the Permittees and the landowners they represent to retain a larger, older tree component, a multilayered, multispecies canopy dominated by large (>30 inches dbh) conifer overstory trees, an understory of shade-tolerant conifers or hardwoods, a moderate to high (60-80 percent) canopy closure, decadence in the form of large, live coniferous trees with deformities - such as cavities, broken tops, and dwarf mistletoe infections, large snags, and ground cover characterized by accumulation of logs and other woody debris on the Enrolled Properties, thus increasing the quantity and quality of northern spotted owl habitat over what might otherwise be provided and developed without the Agreement. Absent this Agreement, the Enrolled Properties would likely experience uneven-aged management under the NTMP, but there would be no incentive to retain large, old trees and complex canopy structure within the stands. The removal of the large, old tree component would keep the stands in a relatively younger age class and reduce the structural diversity commonly associated with high-quality northern spotted owl habitat. The retention of the larger, older tree component (especially trees with broken tops, complex crowns and large canopy limbs) in the development of a multi-aged timber stand provides an important element to the structural diversity of the canopy. Structural diversity provides multiple perch sites at varying canopy heights, facilitates the species' thermoregulation, and affords an additional measure of protection from predators. A larger, older tree component can provide cavities for nest sites, cover for the broken tops of younger trees (also potential nest sites), and habitat for prey species. The development of coarse woody debris on the forest floor provides habitat for small mammals and other animals that serve as prey species for northern spotted owls. Through uneven-aged management and by employing late-successional forest restoration techniques that mimic natural disturbance events, development of late successional forest characteristics (e.g., multi-layered canopy, mixed tree species composition, retention of snags, deformities, and downed wood) will be accelera...
