It’s been 13 years since DNR adopted a plan for the forest habitat for the northern spotted owl and other at-risk species on state trust lands. Efforts to save forest species from extinction have had a major impact on forestry in the Pacific Northwest.
Of the 1.8 million acres of state trust forests managed under DNR’s 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan, almost half of designated areas that support the movement of juvenile northern spotted owls is in two areas east and southeast of Tacoma. Now DNR has figured out how to create better habitat for young owls in that forest landscape.
The two federal Services that oversee DNR’s implementation of the conservation plan found DNR’s new owl habitat approach so appropriate for these areas that they officially concurred in the changes to the old HCP guidelines.
This work began after the 13 years since the 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan was adopted, when scientists, managers, and foresters realized that the owl strategy was not producing habitat that meets all the requirements of the ‘young dispersing’ owls. The HCP habitat affords cover from predators, but the forest structure offers no real roosts to rest, and no habitat in which flying squirrels and other prey could live.
It was as part of the Forest Land Planning effort for the South Puget HCP unit that DNR tackled the issue, looking at two alternatives to address biological needs of owls during this period in their lives.
Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and DNR developed a computer model that identified the finer aspects of what juvenile spotted owls need. They assessed how the owls use the forest landscape, and identified which habitat components were needed: habitat to move through, habitat to roost or rest in, down woody debris and snags for their prey species, multiple canopies, and habitat in which to forage for food. The model also has layers about types and ages of trees and habitats, roads, slopes, etc. With it, DNR found the parts of the forests in which to improve habitat for long-term support of the spotted owl.
The two new strategies and the original HCP habitat strategy were evaluated using the computer model to help DNR choose which would improve owl habitat the most. The analysis is described in the recently completed environmental impact statement for the South Puget forest land planning. The resulting strategies were fine-tuned to improve habitat in the Elbe and Tahoma State Forests, adjacent to Mount Rainier National Park and Federal Forests, in which northern spotted owls nest.
Adapting to new and better information allows the agency to adjust our management to provide more conservation benefit to the species threatened with extinction, such as the northern spotted owl.
