Northern spotted owl effectiveness monitoring plan for the Northwest Forest Plan.

Abstract

This report describes options for effectiveness monitoring of long-term status and trends of the northern spotted owl to evaluate the success of the Northwest Forest Plan in arresting downward population trends, and in maintaining and restoring the habitat conditions necessary to support viable owl populations on Federal lands. It describes options to address monitoring questions, profiles population and habitat status, and points out areas of progress and concern. How population and habitat data from demographic studies would be integrated in the development of predictive models is described. A process to report status and trend results is presented that could provide a reference document for decisionmakers during periodic land use plan reviews.Keywords: Northwest Forest Plan, effectiveness monitoring, northern spotted owl, suitable habitat, demographic study, remote sensing, GIS, landscape, stand scale, predictive model. PrefaceThis report is part of a series describing the approach for monitoring effectiveness of the Forest Plan that have been approved by the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee. Other reports present the plans for monitoring late-successional and old-growth forests, marbled murrelet, and aquatic and riparian ecosystems. Future reports may address survey-and-manage species, biodiversity of late-successional and aquatic ecosystems, socioeconomics, and tribal resources. These reports follow the framework for effectiveness monitoring described in "The Strategy and Design of the Effectiveness Monitoring Program for the Northwest Forest Plan." The purpose of this report is to present a range of options for monitoring the northern spotted owl from which the Federal agencies responsible for the Forest Plan can select an approach meeting their respective information needs given current and expected resource availability. This report responds to the assignment from the Federal resource agencies through the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee and incorporates responses to all comments and peer reviews, as requested. The options, recommended by the authors and the interagency Effectiveness Monitoring Team, have been selected for implementation in fiscal year 1998. Manuals, protocols, specific tasks, and annual funding allocations will be provided in individual agency work plans. All these documents, including manuals and work plans, will comprise the full set of guidance for conducting the effectiveness monitoring program for the Forest Plan. Executive SummaryThe purpose of the northern spotted owl effectiveness monitoring plan is to assess trends in spotted owl populations and habitat. Monitoring data will be used to evaluate the success of the Forest Plan in arresting the downward trends in spotted owl populations and in maintaining and restoring the habitat conditions necessary to support viable owl populations on federally administered lands throughout the range of the owl. Data from population and habitat monitoring in selected demographic study areas would be integrated in the development of pred...

Forest Structure Within Barred Owl (Strix varia) Home Ranges in the Eastern Cascade Range, Washington

“…Much has been achieved through science conducted under the framework of the NWFP (e.g. Lint et al 1999). For instance, the federal contribution to the coordinated demographic studies has been key, and has provided the majority of data currently available on owl population trends.…”

“…If at a later date surveys over the same area showed a decline in owl territories, it suggests something might have happened, particularly if this were matched to other surveys in an adaptive management (quasi experiment) context. Lint et al (1999) noted that more useful information about species trends was gained through a demographic and habitatbased monitoring effort than by surveys alone.…”

“…Implementation of the NWFP also expressed a strong commitment to monitoring, through the Effectiveness Monitoring program (Lint et al 1999). Monitoring has included eight demographic studies of Northern Spotted Owls, and a habitat monitoring and modeling component: "The cornerstones of the monitoring strategy are population and habitat assessments.…”

“…Two meta-analyses of λ RJS were completed, one for all 13 study areas combined and one for eight study areas that were part of the Effectiveness Monitoring Program of the Northwest Forest Plan (Lint et al 1999). The mean λ RJS for all study areas was 0.959 (SE = 0.024, 95% CI = 0.908, 1.004), and for the eight monitoring study areas was 0.975 (SE = 0.023; 95% CI = 0.929, 1.021), indicating average annual population declines of 4.1% for all study areas and 2.5% for the monitoring study areas, neither of which were different from a stationary population based on the 95% confidence intervals.…”

Effects of experimental removal of barred owls on population demography of northern spotted owls in Washington and Oregon—2016 progress report

“…2). Surveys of spotted owls were conducted at historically occupied territories by biologists and agencies already responsible for the long-term demographic monitoring of northern spotted owls under the Northwest Forest Plan (Lint andothers, 1999, Dugger andothers, 2016). Under this monitoring program, spotted owls are surveyed during the breeding season of each year (March-August) to document territory occupancy, locate owls, confirm bands of previously color-marked owls, band previously unmarked owls, and determine the number of young produced by territorial pairs (also see Lint and others, 1999).…”