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Robert Douglas, Forest Science Manager Email: rdouglas@mendoco.com Phone: 707-962-2908

Mendocino Redwood Company Northern Spotted Owl Conservation and Management . Robert Douglas, Forest Science Manager Email: rdouglas@mendoco.com Phone: 707-962-2908. Mendocino Redwood Company. 229,000 acres Redwood/Douglas-fir/Tanoak Pre-1998 silvicultural history

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Robert Douglas, Forest Science Manager Email: rdouglas@mendoco.com Phone: 707-962-2908

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  1. Mendocino Redwood Company Northern Spotted Owl Conservation and Management Robert Douglas, Forest Science Manager Email: rdouglas@mendoco.com Phone: 707-962-2908

  2. Mendocino Redwood Company • 229,000 acres • Redwood/Douglas-fir/Tanoak • Pre-1998 silvicultural history • 75% even-aged management • Past 15 years • Transition to uneven-aged management

  3. 25 Years of Hooting

  4. Lots of Spotted Owls! • 160 territories on MRC lands • High amount of property edge • Buffer property by 1000 feet—230 territories

  5. Spotted Owl Continuously Regulated for Timber Ted Wooster, DFG, 1990-1999 Ken Hoffman, FWS, 1999-2010

  6. MRC Owl Conservation Program • Goal: federal HCP/state NCCP • NCCP Act of 1991 requires a planning agreement • Avoid take of listed species • Protect sensitive habitats • NSO section of the PA included in a SORP /SOMP

  7. MRC Owl Protections • Find them! • 500 foot no-cut area • 1000 foot seasonal disturbance buffer • Minimum 72-acre habitat core area • Sites protected for 3 years • Topographic core areas • Nesting/roosting habitat • MRC uses 16” dbh minimum

  8. Area-wide Habitat Retention Minimum retention standards 0.7 miles: • 200 acres of nesting/roosting habitat • 500 acres of suitable habitat • Silvicultural standards for harvesting in N/R

  9. MRC practices benefit owls • Reserve networks (16.7%) • Riparian protections • Murrelet areas • Old growth tree protection • Wildlife tree policy • Snag retention/recruitment • Sustainable harvest

  10. Growing more Nesting/Roosting Habitat

  11. Growing more Nesting/Roosting Habitat

  12. Growing more Nesting/Roosting Habitat

  13. Owl Surveys • Survey protocol (modified 1992 version) • Night surveys (2-year, 3-visits) • Spot check surveys in year 3 • Daytime visits to territories

  14. Survey Effort

  15. 75% Average Spatial Coverage

  16. How are the owls doing? • Population monitoring • Occupancy • Reproduction • Demography • Environmental factors • Habitat • Climate • Prey base • Barred Owls

  17. Occupancy Patterns By Year

  18. Occupancy Stable

  19. Occupancy Modeling

  20. Density Stable

  21. Reproduction is Cyclic

  22. Reproduction is Cyclic

  23. Early Spring Rainfall A Factor

  24. Barred Owl Invasion • Closely related species • Westward range expansion • First detected in CA—1976 • Displacing spotted owls • Increasing in Mendocino County

  25. Barred Owl Detections at Spotted Owl Sites

  26. Trespass marijuana gardens are pervasive

  27. MRC Spotted Owl Summary • A focal point of regulations for 25 years • Heavily surveyed and monitored • Core sites protected from disturbance • Conservation program improves owl habitat • Owl population dynamically stable • Unregulated threats more of a concern than timber harvest

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