Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

D. The Importance of Timber ProductivityTo the extent that a recovery plan uses forestland of lower timber productivityfor owl habitat, it can achieve recovery at lower cost. Ideally, the total cost of arecovery plan would be minimized by selecting owl habitat areas having thehighest ratio of owl habitat productivity to timber productivity as long as thoseareas also met the established recovery objectives.Northern spotted owl conservation proposals have raised great controversybecause of the unfortunate coincidence between owl habitat and high valuetimber. Nevertheless, there are clearly variations in the value of the timberinventory and in the future timber growth that can be achieved on differentsites. Location and slope as well as the timber inventory affect the value of theexisting timber on a site. Soil conditions and rainfall affect the rate of regenerationand regrowth of timber once a site has been harvested. In principle,use of areas with lower value timber and lower quality sites as owl habitatwould reduce the costs of achieving recovery, assuming that such areasprovide appropriate and sufficient habitat for owl recovery.E. Institutional Principles for Promoting EfficiencyEconomists have been able to identify the characteristics of institutions thattend to achieve high efficiency. The Recovery Team considered several of suchprinciples in formulating the recovery plan.Institutions tend to achieve higher efficiency when they:* Use incentives to reward performance that improves the achievement ofobjectives,* Achieve an effective balance between central guidance on goals and objectivesand decentralized decision-making,* Allow a diversity of approaches reflecting differences in local conditions,* Provide flexibility to adapt to changing conditions and to improve quality andefficiency by responding to information about the effectiveness and cost ofvarious actions,* Specialize in closely related activities,* Participate in trading or market transactions that promote the highest valueuse of resources.Experience with market mechanisms shows that resource managers respondmore efficiently to incentives than to directives and restrictions. The RecoveryTeam looked for opportunities to create incentives for improving owl productivitywithin each of the ownership and management regimes with jurisdictionover owl habitat.Field level forest managers and biologists often have knowledge of local conditionsthat is not reflected in formal data available to their headquarters' organizations.Using this local knowledge, they may be able to identify the mostproductive habitat and make significant increases in the owl productivity andtimber harvests on the lands within their jurisdiction.If information on the effectiveness of various forest management practices thatcan enhance the productivity of owl habitat can be provided to local forestlandmanagers and biologists, they may be able to better identify areas within theirjurisdiction with the greatest carrying capacity and apply management actionsthat would best enhance that capacity. Allowing greater diversity in designatingand managing owl habitat also may increase the chances of finding new,innovative measures for increasing owl productivity.539