Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

appropriate to evaluate whether they have significant effects on owlhabitat. Restrictions may be appropriate in some cases.12. Recreational Uses. Dispersed recreational uses, including hunting,generally are consistent with the objectives of DCAs, except as specificallynoted elsewhere in the draft recovery plan.13. Research. A variety of wildlife and other research activities (e.g., waterquality) may be proposed in DCAs. These activities must be assessed todetermine if they are consistent with DCA management guidelines. Ifagencies address the range of these activities explicitly in DCA managementplans, disruption of existing research or disincentives for proposedresearch may be avoided, particularly in the case of small and widelydispersed experimental forestlands.14. Rights-of-Way, Contracted Rights, Easements. Existing and proposedagreements will be evaluated and revised where feasible. In some cases,preexisting agreements may pose legal issues or raise other concerns thatrequire consideration in the DCA management plan.b. Other Federal LandsFor the purposes of the recovery plan, the "matrix" is defined as lands withinthe range of northern spotted owls which are outside DCAs. This discussion isspecific to federal matrix lands. Recovery contributions from nonfederal matrixlands are described in section III.C.4.Federal matrix lands will make several essential contributions to recovery.Their most basic function is to help maintain adequate habitat conditions toallow movement of owls among DCAs. As described in section III.B., thisinterchange among DCAs is necessary to allow functioning of the whole spottedowl population. The second function of the matrix is to maintain reproductiveowl pairs, where possible, in areas where DCAs cannot fully meet the criteria(section III.C.2) established by the recovery plan. These pairs will help supplementDCAs where owl populations or habitat are deficient until those deficienciescan be corrected. In some cases, population deficiencies in DCAs may notbe corrected for a long period of time and owl pairs in the matrix will remain apart of the recovery strategy for the foreseeable future. In other areas, thematrix will be required to support pairs of breeding owls as a safeguard againstthe possibility of large-scale loss of habitat in DCAs from fire, insects, anddisease. Finally, the matrix will contain areas of nesting habitat that willpreserve options to reestablish owls throughout the landscape.Since habitat conditions and owl populations vary across the range, specificobjectives for matrix forests also will vary. Four matrix management prescriptionshave been identified. Criteria were developed to determine where theseprescriptions will be applied. Those criteria and the implementation guidelinesare described in this section. The province narratives (section III.C.4) identifythe locations where the prescriptions will be applied and the approximateacreages involved.Recommendations for federal matrix management provide for a broader mix ofactivities than the recommendations for the DCAs. It is expected that a widevariety of commercial timber activities will occur within the matrix, with theirtiming and location designed to meet the conditions specified for the matrix.For several matrix management prescriptions, the acres on which habitat goalsare met may shift through time. For other prescriptions, such as the reservedpair areas, tighter controls on activities are recommended.119