Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

currently suitable. Rough estimates of the possible effects of these activitiesshow that treatment of 50,000 acres per year could support about 600 jobsand yield about 100 million board feet of timber per year worth about $26million.The second feature that will tend to offset the effects of timber restrictions isallowing limited timber salvage in DCAs. Timber salvage on federal forestsaveraged more than 600 million board feet per year during the 1980s. In lightof the fact that DCAs contain approximately one third of the forestland availablefor timber harvest, salvage of 10 to 20 percent of the salvageable timberwithin DCAs could yield, on average, 20 to 40 million board feet per year,supporting about 315 to 630 jobs.Furthermore, other sources of timber supply, including private forestlands inthe Pacific Northwest, may increase production in response to higher timberprices. Although the response in the Northwest is likely to be limited andprobably could not be sustained more than a few years, it would slow the rateof job displacement in the early years of recovery plan implementation.In reviewing these estimates of the economic effects of implementing therecovery plan, it is important to note that they reflect the future effects of allnorthern spotted owl conservation on federal land, not just the protectionadded to the current management regime by the recovery plan. The estimateswere prepared in this way because the recovery plan will provide a comprehensivebasis for all owl conservation efforts. Thus, these estimates attribute tothe recovery plan all of the economic effects of owl conservation that occur afterimplementation of the plan.If the recovery plan is not implemented, other owl conservation measures willremain in effect that also will restrict timber harvests. In particular, the ForestService and the BLM will continue policies they developed in response to theISC's recommendations. In addition, the FWS has designated critical habitatfor the spotted owl and will apply the Endangered Species Act prohibitionsagainst federal actions that would adversely modify critical habitat or jeopardizethe species. Comparable estimates of the economic effects of these policiesare presented in the Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation Effects ofthe Northem Spotted Owl prepared by the FWS. Comparison of the economiceffects of these policies and those proposed by the draft recovery plan areprovided in section IV. That section presents more detailed estimates of theeconomic effects of the recovery plan and comparisons of these estimates withother owl conservation activities and proposals.535