Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

Ttllwrnook/Astoria area. Provide supplemental pair areas to protectcurrently known and future-discovered pairs and manage for clusters ofpairs over the long term. DCA OD-50 has been recommended in thisarea, using federal lands as a basis for one of these clusters. Providedispersal habitat among these clusters.Achievement of recovery objectives in this area will depend largely oncontributions from nonfederal lands. Fourteen spotted owl pairs orsingles have been located in the Tillamook/Astoria area. Prohibitionagainst take of these spotted owls and future-discovered spotted owls willmake some contribution to accomplishing objectives. Most of these sitesare clustered on the western and northern sides of the Clatsop andTillamook State Forests, where there are mature stands that survived themultiple forest fires that occurred from the 1930s until early 1950. Thestate manages these lands in trust for the fiduciary benefit of the localcounties. Land exchange or purchase may be necessary to meet therecovery objective to establish clusters and assure long term recovery.Middle Oregon Coast (Highway 18 to Highway 34). The province recoveryobjectives on nonfederal lands are to provide nesting, roosting, andforaging habitat in the DCAs with checkerboard ownership, and toprovide dispersal habitat among these DCAs. The DCAs needing supplementalhabitat include OD-33, OD-37, OD-38, and OD-49. The recommendationfor dispersal habitat applies to nonfederal land throughoutthis area. The objective of providing habitat within these DCAs is to meet,in conjunction with habitat on federal land, the owl population objectivesfor the DCAs. Some opportunity may exist to negotiate for the bestcombinations of contributions from nonfederal landowners since they arecurrently affected by the prohibition against taking spotted owls. Scatteredstate lands occur in this area, managed under trust for the countiesor for the State Land Board (Common School Trust). The VanDuzerCorridor along Highway 18 could provide some contribution to habitatneeds. Federal land exchange or purchase may be necessary to meet therecovery objectives.Eugene and Drain Corridor. Provide nesting, roosting, and foraginghabitat in DCAs located in checkerboard ownership, and provide dispersalhabitat among these DCAs. These include DCAs OD-29, OD-30,OD-31, OD-54, and OD-55. Nonfederal landowners currently are affectedby the prohibition against take in this area.Area south of Highway 38. In areas of checkerboard ownership, providesuitable nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat in DCAs OD-27 and OD-28 and provide dispersal habitat among all DCAs and to the provinceboundaries. Nonfederal landowners currently are affected by the prohibitionagainst take in this area, so some opportunity exists to negotiate forthe best combination of contributions from them.An additional objective is to develop a cooperative habitat managementplan for the Elliott State Forest. Thirty-eight spotted owl pairs or residentsingles have been located in this forest. As a result, the state forest iscurrently contributing to recovery due to prohibitions against take.Conservation planning as described in section III.C.3. for the Elliott StateForest could lead to more efficient conservation measures and improvethe likelihood of achieving recovery objectives. State lands also areaffected by Oregon's Endangered Species Act. A conservation plan couldbe used to comply with the state's Endangered Species Act on stateownedlands. In addition, the Mill Creek and Umpqua River drainageshave been designated by the State Land Board as areas that will be166