Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl - DRAFT

that satisfies the act's requirements can be the basis for issuance of incidentaltaking permits to nonfederal land managers.Prohibition against take. After the northern spotted owl was listed as athreatened species, private timberland owners requested guidance from theFWS on how they could harvest timber without violating the EndangeredSpecies Act. Since the only requirement of nonfederal entitites under theEndangered Species Act is the prohibition against take, the FWS issuedguidance on the measures needed to avoid taking owls. The FWS believes,however, that the "survey and circle" approach described in that guidance doesnot provide adequate long-term protection for the subspecies. In addition, theFWS is concerned about the substantial costs being incurred by landownersproviding these protective measures. One of the goals of the Recovery Team isto develop more efficient ways by which landowners may provide equal orincreased protection for owls while incurring equal or lower economic costs.Some of the concerns about the take circles are described below.1. Biological concerns.- Although the take circles are a uniform size within a province, theircontribution to recovery is variable. They differ in the amount andquality of suitable habitat they contain and in their placement acrossthe landscape. Yet, the circles are protected equally, regardless of theiractual contribution to recovery.- Application of the take guidelines tends to encourage fragmentation ofhabitat. Landowners also have an incentive to cut habitat before anowl is found, reducing that habitat in the near term.- The amount of habitat in the take circles is not optimal for recovery ofthe species.- The spacing of the take circles is not optimal for contributing to recovery.The circles surround owls where they are currently located and, insome cases, they are spaced too far apart to allow for successfuldispersal among them. Some circles overlap, creating clusters of pairshelpful in recovery, while other circles are isolated from the rest of thepopulation by large expanses of unsuitable habitat.- The take prohibition works most effectively to protect habitat whereowls are most numerous, and does not effectively protect habitat, suchas linkages among federal lands, in areas which currently do notcontain owls.- Surveys conducted to comply with the take prohibition provide only aportion of the data required for monitoring owl recovery. Surveys aregenerally conducted in areas of planned timber harvests and, thoughthe results contribute to the assessment of owl populations, thesurveys provide little information about habitat or population trends atthe landscape level.2. Land management concerns.- Discovery of an owl forces the creation of another restricted harvestcircle, and may result in unexpected decline in income. This serves asa disincentive for landowners to survey or provide owl habitat.77