Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

transfer of one area to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation through congressionalaction. This reduced the total area protected to 228,000 acres, and noreplacement area was designated.In 1989, an additional 12 agreement sites were established under instructionsto the BLM in section 318 of the Fiscal Year 1990 Interior and Related AgenciesAppropriation Act (Public Law 101 - 121). This brought the total of owl managementareas to 121, on which the BLM is deferring harvest on commercial foreststands. The guidance for establishment of these 121 areas was based on workby Forsman and Meslow (pp. 58, 59 in Gutierrez and Carey 1985). Theyrecommended 2,200 acres of forest more than 80 years old be designated foreach site within a 3-mile radius of a known activity center of a single owl orpair of owls. Actual delineation of sites resulted in the acreage varying from734 to 4,188 acres because of the range size of specific sites determined fromradio-telemetry and lack of coniferous stands more than 80 years old.Based on data collected between 1985 and 1990, the above managementprovided protection for approximately 20 percent of the known pairs of spottedowls on BLM lands. This plan was designed to provide for long-term maintenanceof one pair in each site; however, it was concluded that additional pairsor singles may live within the boundaries of the designated sites.In May 1990, the ISC released its report on a conservation strategy for thenorthern spotted owl. In September 1990, the BLM adopted the Jamisonstrategy, (named for the BLM's Director, Cy Jamison) (Jamison 1990) whichincorporated the major elements of the ISC report and established the followingguidelines for a 2-year period:1. All current land use allocations under existing land use plans for usesother than timber management will be continued.2. No regular green timber sales will be offered in proposed habitat conservationareas (HCA) category 1 through 4. All timber sales will be surveyedusing BLM timber sale survey protocol, and any new owl pairs within thezone requiring category 3 HCA areas will be protected as per ISC reportrecommendations.3. Salvage sales may be offered in HCAs if the action is to have no effect onthe owl or its habitat, or if through consultation with the FWS the sale iscleared for harvest.4. Forest management practices, such as tree planting on previously loggedunits, seedling maintenance, site preparation, precommercial thinning,and fertilization would also be permitted in the HCAs during the 2-yearperiod.5. No regular green timber sales will be offered in the 109 spotted owlagreement areas established under the 1987 agreement between the BLMand ODFW, or in the 12 additional areas established under section 318 ofPublic Law 101 - 121. Timber salvage sales may be offered in the ODFWagreement areas only after the concurrence of the ODFW.6. In planning timber sales outside category 1 and 2 HCAs consider unitplacement, to the extent possible, to reduce or eliminate the impact onthe existing habitat conditions for those forestlands which have mean dbhof at least 11 inches and a canopy closure of at least 40 percent. Theintent of this guideline is to provide dispersal habitat for owls.70