Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

Because of the distances involved, the presence of breeding population clusterswill be necessary to provide a meaningful level of connectivity.Reestablishing population connectivity is the main recovery goal in this province.Biological goals and implementation on federal landsEssentially the only federal land in the province is the Fort Lewis MilitaryReservation which is recommended as a DCA (WD-43). No spotted owlscurrently are known to occur on these lands and habitat is generally in youngforest. Fort Lewis is in an important location to reestablish demographicinterchange between spotted owls in the Cascade Range and the OlympicPeninsula. Forestlands should be managed to develop characteristics ofspotted owl habitat.Table 3.5. Summary of acreage and owl pairs for designated conservation areas(DCAs) and for all lands in the western Washington lowlands province. (Moredetailed information, including projected owl pairs on nonfederal lands, is inAppendix J, Table J.2.)AcreageOwl PairsDCA Percent NRF Current FutureIdent. Federal Habitat Known Owls 3 Projected ProjectedNumber Total Land 1 Federal 2 Federal Nonfed Federal 4 Federal 5WD-43 81,590 97 0 0 0 0 21Total for all lands in province: 0 0 31 Management of nonfederal lands within the perimeter of designated conservation areas is discussed in the narrative.2 NRF = nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for spotted owls. Habitat information was not available for nonfederal lands.3 Numbers are pairs of spotted owls verified in a 5-year period either 1986 through 1990 or 1987 through 19914 This is an estimate of the number of pairs of owls that the DCA would be expected to support on federal lands if the population stabilized withcurrent habitat conditions See Appendix J for further details.5 This is an estimate of the number of pairs of owls that the DCA might support in the future on federal lands if habitat were recovered SeeAppendix J for further details/Table 3.6. Summary comments on the designated conservation area (DCA)network in the western Washington lowlands province. (Section 11I.C.2. andAppendix I provide further information on the criteria and process used to delineatethese areas.)DesignatedConservationAreaWD-43CommentsThis DCA is located entirely on the Fort Lewis Military Reservation.Forests are generally less than 70 years old. It will improve connectivitywith the Washington Cascades and the Olympic Peninsula populations.The area has the future habitat capability to support 21 pairs ofowls...................... ................ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~149