-18.9 -13."
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3 Expansion of competing species and wildfires among significant changes
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is beginning a detailed review of the health of the California spotted owl, a subspecies of spotted owls that ranges from the northern Sierra Nevada and the Central Coast ranges south through the mountains of southern California. The Service intends to complete its 12-month review by March 14, 2006, then decide whether or not to propose listing the species as threatened or endangered. Today's action also will open a 60-day public comment period, which will begin with publication of the notice shortly in the Federal Register. Click Here for Frequently Asked Questions
The Service's decision today, commonly known as a 90-day finding, is based on scientific information about the subspecies provided in a petition seeking the listing of the California spotted owl and other information. The finding does not mean that the Service has decided it is appropriate to list the California spotted owl. Rather, this finding is the first step in a process that triggers a more thorough review of all the biological information available. The status review will determine whether the California spotted owl warrants listing as a threatened or endangered species. The decision to proceed with a 12-month review was based on new information that has become available in the last two years.
Several significant natural conditions have changed in the past two years, among them the rapid spread of the barred owl, a competitor of spotted owls, and the impact of wildfires on the species. Under the Endangered Species Act, the 12-month review is more exhaustive than the 90-day finding.
This is the Service's second review of the California spotted owl in three years, both triggered by petitions and/or lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign and other organizations.
This sequence began in February 2003, when the Service found that listing of the California spotted owl was not warranted because the overall magnitude of threats did not rise to the level requiring protection under the ESA. In May 2004, the petitioners filed a lawsuit challenging that finding. Then in September 2004, they submitted a new petition to list the California spotted owl. In March, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California stayed the litigation to allow the Service to respond to the new petition, and directed the Service to report on the status of that response by June 13. The Service filed that report with the Court on Monday.
The petition contends that several changes have taken place in the last two years which may affect the status and distribution of the California spotted owl. They include further range expansion of the barred owl, which hybridizes with the California spotted owl and takes over its territory; recent fires in spotted owl habitat; revisions to the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment; new state forestry regulations; and potentially relevant analyses of population dynamics. Taken together, the Service concludes in its 90-day review that this may be substantial information and therefore justifies the more detailed analysis that occurs in a status review and 12-month finding.
Notably, barred owls have expanded their range 200 miles southward in the Sierra Nevada over the past two years. In one indication of its concern about barred owl predation, the Service has authorized the experimental take of up to 20 barred owls in the Klamath National Forest. The barred owls recently moved into an area where they displaced spotted owls. The California Academy of Sciences was given the research permit.
Further, 28 California spotted owl territories were seriously affected by wildfires in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Diego Mountains in 2002 and 2003.
"The Service has not made a decision on whether to propose listing the California spotted owl," said Steve Thompson, manager of the Service's California/Nevada Operations Office. "The 90-day finding is our recognition that new information has developed over the last two years.?
Thompson continued, "Over the next nine months, the Service will evaluate this new information, and all the additional information we obtain, then make a decision on whether there is sufficient risk to the species to proceed with a listing proposal.?
Thompson added "We strongly encourage the public, the scientific community, affected industries and other stakeholders to submit all the additional information they may have, along with their comments, so that the finding we make is based on the best available science.? Comments may be submitted by mail to the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W-2605, Sacramento, CA 95825.
The two other spotted owl subspecies, the northern and the Mexican spotted owls, have been listed as threatened since the early 1990s.
