Barred Owl Scientific Collecting Permit California NEPA Documents

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 421 et. seq.) for the purpose of evaluating a permit amendment request we received from the United States Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region (Permittee). The amendment is to the Permittee’s Scientific Collecting permit (Permit) to conduct research on barred owls (Strix varia) and barred owl x spotted owl hybrids (hybrids) in California. The research projects, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, consists of take of invasive barred owls and hybrids for genetic-based diet assessments and screening for anti-coagulant rodenticides. The amendment would increase the authorized lethal take of barred owls and hybrids from 1,000 individuals to 3,000 individuals for the three-year tenure of the Permit across the state. The analysis detailed in the EA resulted in selection of the preferred alternative and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The FONSI and final EA documents are provided here.