Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species. Northern Spotted Owl Under the No Action Alternative, habitat for spotted owls would be managed in compliance with the Washington Forest Practices Rules (WAC 222-10-041), Oregon Forest Practices Rules (ORS 527.610), and would not require an ITP under the ESA, due to incidental take avoidance. SDS has 46,244 acres of commercial forestlands in Washington, and 12,141 acres of commercial forestlands in Oregon. BLC has 11,601 acres of commercial forestlands in Washington (SHA Figure 2-1 and Table 3-1). Together, the Applicants own 69,986 acres classified within its inventory as commercial forest land. The baseline includes all lands that the Applicants manage in Washington and Oregon under the current Forest Practices Rules, which totals 81,587 acres. Currently, Washington Forest Practices Rules requires spotted owl circle management and protection on private timber lands (WAC 000-00-000, WAC 000-00-000) in SOSEAs. These requirements are described in Chapter 2. There are 30 northern spotted owl site centers in the vicinity of the Applicants’ lands in Washington, four of which are within the Columbia Gorge and 14 are within the White Salmon SOSEAs. All site centers, except for one, are located on USFS, WDNR, or other private lands. The White Salmon and Columbia Gorge SOSEAs encompass approximately 54% (31,487 acres) of the Applicants’ commercial forestlands in Skamania and Klickitat Counties (57,845 acres). Under current Forest Practices Rules, the Applicants could harvest all the acreage in the SOSEAs except spotted owl habitat protected by harvest restrictions associated with the SOSEAs, i.e., all suitable habitat within 0.7 mile circles and the highest quality 2,605 acres of habitat within the 1.8 mile radius. Although WDNR has completed identification of the highest quality 2,605 acres for each owl site in the White Salmon SOSEA, they have not completed identification of the highest quality 2,605 acres for each owl site center in the Columbia Gorge SOSEA. Thus, the Applicants have conservatively assumed that all current acres of habitat on their lands will be identified as part of the highest quality 2,605 acres in the Columbia Gorge SOSEA. As a result, there are 3,694 acres of spotted owl habitat restricted from harvest under the Washington Forest Practices Rules in the White Salmon SOSEA and 1,003 acres of habitat restricted from harvest in the Columbia Gorge SOSEA. Using this approach, a total of 4,697 acres of SDS and BLC lands are identified as currentl...
Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species. Northern Spotted Owl Overview - Under the Proposed Action Alternative, forest management activities that would be conducted by the Applicants deviate substantially from their current forest management activities conducted under the No Action Alternative. Incidental take of spotted owl habitat would occur under the Proposed Action Alternative, both when conducting forest management activities during the term of the SHA, and potentially at the end of the SHA when lands are managed to the Elevated Baseline. The majority of the habitat that is currently restricted from harvest under the No Action Alternative would be available for harvest, and the Applicants over time, would likely harvest it. However, the Applicants propose to slow their current rate of harvest; maintain an elevated baseline of habitat across the landscape; manage for an average 60 year harvest rotation; create SSAs that retain and create suitable owl habitat; defer harvest of owl habitat in certain areas; conduct commercial thinning that is expected to accelerate development of owl foraging, roosting and dispersal habitat; implement a snag retention and creation program that contributes to the quality of owl habitat and provides habitat for owl prey species; and provide owl nest site protections. These actions, and others associated with the SHA, are intended to provide benefits to spotted owls. It is not the purpose of the SHA to supply old forest habitat on the covered lands that might provide an abundance of nesting habitat. Rather, the conservation approach is to provide mostly foraging, roosting and dispersal habitat distributed across the covered lands, which is intended to benefit spotted owls by providing more, and if successful, higher quality areas within which they can forage, roost, and disperse. Except for a couple of areas (owl site #753 and the Little White Salmon set aside areas), the SHA does not put blocks of habitat into a reserve status for the Permit term. Instead, habitat is considered to be a dynamic resource that can shift locations over the duration of the SHA. Since the SHA is focused on primarily providing foraging, roosting and dispersal habitat, it is more reasonable to accomplish this goal over the 60-year term than if the goal was to provide nesting habitat. A major theme of the Proposed Action Alternative is the concept of managing for spotted owl habitat at a scale larger than the 0.7 and 1.8 mile radius circles. Since the spotted owl listing under the ESA, t...
