Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

ning. Also, several unsurveyed areas of potential habitat remaining on theOlympic Peninsula should be surveyed in preparation of protective managementplans.The State of Washington has proposed several voluntary actions for state trustlands in this area that can address the objectives of improving spotted owlpopulation connectivity and protecting individual owl pairs. These actionsinclude deferral of timber harvest on 15,000 acres of spotted owl habitat;transfer of 3,000 acres of ecologically sensitive land from trust to conservationstatus, with compensation; and creation of a 260,000-acre Olympic ExperimentalState Forest (all state land in the western half of the province, north ofthe Queets River). The recovery plan recommends that the experimental forestmeet the province recovery objectives discussed earlier and develop and testsilvicultural prescriptions aimed at improving compatibility between protectionof owl habitat and commercial forest management. Objectives of the silviculturalprescriptions could include (1) accelerating habitat development ofcurrently unsuitable habitat, (2) creating post-harvest conditions conducive torapid redevelopment of habitat, and (3) maintaining habitat suitability followingharvest. Knowledge developed through work on the experimental forestcould be useful to owl conservation over time throughout the Olympic Peninsulaand in other provinces.Prohibitions on take also are contributing to the province recovery objectives byprotecting known owl activity centers. However, protective management andconservation planning, as described in section III.C.3., could lead to moreefficient conservation actions and increase the feasibility of meeting the recoveryobjectives for the province. For some private landowners, it also may bepossible to negotiate contributions of land in trade for relief from take prohibition(see III.C.3.). State forest practices rules also could be used to ensureprotection of known owls, where agreed upon.Land exchange or purchase could contribute to the province objectives, but theprohibitive expense makes it appropriate only in special circumstances. Additionsof lands to Olympic National Park and/or Olympic National Forest couldhelp achieve recovery objectives.Western Washington Lowlands ProvinceProvince descriptionThe western Washington lowlands province lies in southwest Washington andconsists largely of nonfederal ownership, including major urban, industrial,and agricultural areas in Washington. It includes the Puget Trough, whichencompasses the Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma urban areas. The provinceoccupies a key position in the spotted owl range; it is the only area whereconnectivity could be reestablished with the currently isolated population ofnorthern spotted owls on the Olympic Peninsula.The majority of forestland in this province is owned by the State of Washingtonor large industrial timber corporations. As a result of timber harvest, northernspotted owls have been virtually eliminated from the province: only four activitycenters are known in the province. Major threats to the remaining owl territoriesinclude low habitat quantity, poor distribution of habitat and owls, andlocal population isolation.A contributing concern in this province is the risk to the owl population in theadjacent Olympic Peninsula. To alleviate this threat of population isolation,population connectivity should be reestablished across the Washington lowlandsprovince to both the Washington Cascades and northwestern Oregon.148