Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

B. The Interagency Scientific CommitteeWhile the proposal to list the northern spotted owl was pending, the four principalfederal agencies involved in management of the owl (Forest Service, Bureauof Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service) commissionedan Interagency Scientific Committee (ISC) to develop a conservationstrategy for the owl. The committee delivered its product in April 1990 in theform of a strategy organized around the establishment of habitat conservationareas (HCAs) throughout the range of the owl, including an adaptive managementapproach (Thomas et al. 1990). The ISC strategy represented a significantgathering and synthesis of information on the biology and conservation of theowl and provided a point of departure for much of what subsequently hasoccurred regarding owl conservation. The ISC report concluded that at that timemanagement strategies were inadequate to ensure the owl's viability. The ISCbelieved its strategy, -. . . if faithfully implemented, has a high probability ofretaining a viable, well-distributed population of northern spotted owls over thenext 100 years," (Thomas et al. 1990:4).In many respects the task of the Recovery Team is similar to that of the ISC.There are, however, several significant differences. The most fundamentaldifferences concern the frames of reference of the two groups. When the ISCwas formed and prepared its strategy, the owl had not been listed as threatenedand was not subject to protection under the Endangered Species Act.The strategy was commissioned by federal agencies, and members of the corecommittee of the ISC were federal employees. The committee had no obligationto and did not attempt to articulate its strategy in terms of the owl's recoveryfrom threatened status.The Recovery Team began its work after the owl had been listed. Protectivemeasures had taken effect and were available as tools for conservation. TheRecovery Team, appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, includes in its coremembership academic scientists and representatives of the governors of thethree affected states. Direct participation at this level by the states gave theRecovery Team a greater opportunity to address the entire range of the owl andmanagement of owls on nonfederal lands than was afforded the ISC. Perhapsmost important, a recovery team must, if possible, develop goals for the recoveryof a species to the point at which it may be removed from the endangeredor threatened list and also must describe criteria by which achievement ofthese goals can be recognized.Similarities between the ISC strategy and this recovery plan arise from theircommon foundation in the biology of the owl and reliance on available managementtools and principles of conservation biology. Differences between the tworeflect the differing composition and charters of the groups that prepared them.C. The Biological Basis of the PlanThe conservation measures in the recovery plan reflect general biologicalprinciples and specific knowledge concerning the biology of the northernspotted owl. In large part, the plan borrows from and builds upon the conceptsand information presented in the ISC strategy. The following principlesprovide a biological basis for the plan:* The risk of local or widespread extirpation will be reduced bymanaging for owls across their entire range and in the varietyof ecological conditions within that range.6