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The current survey and management guidelines for the great gray owl within the range of the northern spotted owl are connected to the myriad of issues forest managers of public lands in the Pacific Northwest have confronted over the last decade. These issues emerged from social concerns about the management and use of forests. At the forefront of these issues was the management of federally endangered and threatened species, such as the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet. Other important issues included the conservation of late-successional (mature and old-growth) forests and the effects of conservation practices on timber-based communities and economies. These issues and concerns were well documented in a series ofassessments and reports produced by scientists and resource specialists, including reports of the Interagency Scientific Committee (ISC), Scientific Panel on Late-Successional Forest Ecosystems (Gang-of-Four), Scientific Analysis Team (SAT), and the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team (FEMAT). We synthesized these assessments and reports as they relate to the great gray owl in appendix A. The FEMAT report was followed by National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) documentation, the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) [ United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1992. Final environmental impact statement on management for the northern spotted owl in National Forests. Portland, OR: National Forest System. 2 vols., 12 maps, 6 page errata sheet.] and the ROD. The ROD provides the current direction for implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan.
Current Habitat Protection Measures
The ROD specified that sufficient habitat would be provided to assure the persistence of the great gray owl, including the protection of occupied locations outside late-successional reserves in the upland forest matrix. Protection measures were designated specifically for the great gray owl; they included the establishment of 1/4-mile protection zones around known nest sites, protection of new nest sites as they were discovered, and a 300-foot no-harvest buffer around meadows and natural openings (ROD, p. C-21). These protection measures were adopted directly into the ROD as recommended by the SAT and FEMAT and are described further in appendix A.
Current Survey Protocol
For great gray owls and other rare and locally endemic species, the Standards and Guidelines directed that survey protocols be designed to ensure a high likelihood of locating occupied sites, and that surveys be conducted before ground-disturbing activities within known or suspected ranges and within the habitat types or vegetation communities occupied by these species (ROD, p. C-19). Standardized survey protocols for great gray owls were required to be implemented within 1 year of the signing of the ROD. It was the only species that had this specific direction. Even though this direction was taken directly from the SAT’s report, a survey protocol had never been developed because the report was never legally implemented.
A work group from the Pacific Northwest with owl expertise was assigned to develop a survey protocol for the great gray owl. Working under a short timeline, they modified the survey protocol that had been implemented for the northern spotted owl. Their draft of the protocol was forwarded to the Regional Monitoring Committee (RMC), a scientific oversight group working with the Regional Ecosystem Office, who forwarded it immediately to the RIEC, a board ofdirectors of agencies affected by the ROD. The RIEC approved the protocol and distributed it to field units on May 12, 1995.
Distributed with the survey protocol were directions and a schedule for implementation, including criteria for selecting survey areas and clarification of protection measures that were unclear in the ROD. The RIEC directed that surveys would be done (1) within the range of the northern spotted owl, (2) at elevations above 3,000 feet, (3) within mature stands (80+ years) with greater than 60-percent canopy cover, and (4) within 1,000 feet of a natural meadow of more than 10 acres. In addition, they stated the shape of the required 1/4-mile-radius protection zone around nest sites was discretionary; the nest site, including buffers, would be managed as a Late-Successional Reserve; and that great gray owl surveys would be repeated for 2 years before ground-disturbing activities.
