Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

DiseasesTotal fire protection will continue to increase foliage diseases, such as larchneedle blight, root rots, especially Armillarta root disease, heart rots (especiallyof true firs), and true fir and Douglas-fir dwarf mistletoes. As mentionedearlier, however, total fire protection in this subregion will be difficult to attain.Fires may reduce certain diseases, such as dwarf mistletoes, depending on fireintensity. They also cause wounding of some tree species, thus providing entrycourts for fungi, especially bole decay organisms.D. Forest Protection GuidelinesInsectsDiseasesThere are no forest protection options to maintain owl habitat at its currentlevel in the East Cascades subregion. As noted, the current extensive habitatis likely a result of an historical anomaly: successful fire protection. Thestructure resulting from this anomaly is inherently unstable, subject to increasedfire, wind, disease, and insect damage. Any stand manipulation whichwill significantly increase resistance to these disturbance factors apparentlywill result in decreased owl habitat, through reduction of thick understoryconditions. However, there should be experiments to test the effect suchmanipulations will have on owl populations. Through the process of adaptivemanagement (Walters 1986) future management direction will depend on theresults of initial management efforts.Many valley stands have longer fire return intervals than associated slopes. Aprescribed burning program might be implemented on slopes while excludingtoe slopes and valley bottoms. Such a program might protect nesting habitatin valley locations for a significant number of owls, while providing much morefire-resistant foraging areas on the slopes. Since north aspects appear to havemore owl nesting sites (Buchanan pers. comm.) these aspects might be protectedmore often than south aspects. Wildfire control would have much moresuccess if stands with thick understories were isolated and in riparian, northaspectlocations. Possible effects of fragmenting owl populations will have to beweighed against the benefits of hazard reduction. Effects of the burning onother wildlife and fish populations also might be more positive than negative ifselected areas were excluded from the burning programs.As in the Klamath subregion, tying in prescribed burning areas with fuelbreakswill increase the suppression capability when wildfires occur and aid in theimplementation of a successful prescribed fire program with fewer escape fires.In the absence of fire, spraying the forest with Sevin or Bacillus thur-ngensishas been recommended in some areas to reduce population levels of defoliatinginsects. This can also reduce tree mortality and lower the fire danger temporarily.However, such treatment is not likely to be very effective in DCAs orelsewhere and is not recommended as a DCA protection strategy. Stands mayneed to be thinned to keep them in a condition with less moisture stress toreduce the possibility of bark beetle attack and increased mortality. Thinning,however, may increase the incidence of root diseases such as Annillaria rootrot.In the absence of fire, Armillarta root disease will continue to increase. Thinningto control bark beetles probably will increase the rate of spread. More471