- Metric Name:  California Spotted Owl

- Data Vintage:  2023

- Unit Of Measure: Binary, 0 (Low Suitability), 1 (High Suitability)

California spotted owl is continuously distributed on the western slope of the Sierra and inhabits elevations ranging from 1,000 to over 7,000 feet, it is a Region 5 Forest Service “Sensitive Species” and a “Management Indicator Species” (representing late seral closed canopy coniferous forest). In November, 2019, the USFWS issued a 12-month finding on a petition to list the California spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act and determined listing to be not warranted at this time (USDI Fish and Wildlife Service 2019). Although the species is declining throughout much of its range and faces continued threats due to wildfire, habitat loss, and competition from barred owls, the USFWS determined that existing regulatory mechanisms are sufficient (USDI Fish and Wildlife Service 2019). This species is also recognized as a California “Species of Special Concern and a Species of Greatest Conservation Need.”

A conservation assessment for California spotted owl was conducted in 2017 (Gutiérrez, Manley, and Stine 2017). This was followed by the development of a conservation strategy to guide habitat management on National Forest System Lands (USDA Forest Servie 2019). The conservation strategy for the California spotted owl throughout its range, including southern California, aims to balance the need to conserve essential habitat elements around sites occupied by California spotted owls, while simultaneously restoring resilient forest conditions at the landscape scale (USDA Forest Service 2019).

The USDA Forest Service designates a 300-acre protected activity center (PAC) around each known nesting area or activity center. PACs are a USFS land allocation designed to protect and maintain high-quality California spotted owl nesting and roosting habitat around active sites. Territorial owls typically defend a geographic area consistently used for nesting, roosting, and foraging, containing essential habitat for survival and reproduction. The USDA Forest Service calls for an area of 1,000 acres in the central Sierra Nevada around core use areas, including the associated protected activity center, with a minimum of 400 acres of suitable habitat.

Creation Method: CWHR classifications are based on a combination of FVEG canopy cover, FVEG size class and vegetation data. The vegetation data includes a variety of tree, shrub, grassland, and water dominated habitats. Species are considered present, and habitats considered suitable for each 30m cell for which the canopy cover-size-vegetation combination have been deemed suitable for the reproduction of that species in the California Wildlife Habitat Relationship database. Habitat that meets the following criteria is considered suitable:

CWHR size and density of 4D, 4M within CWHR vegetation types of DFR, MHC, MHW, MRI, PPN, RFR, SMC, WFR

CWHR size and density of 5D, 5M, 6 within CWHR vegetation types of DFR, EPN, JPN, LPN, MHC, MHW, MRI, PPN, RFR, SMC, WFR

CWHR high suitability values have been used to create separate data layers which identify suitable nesting and suitable foraging habitat. These data have been combined to create the identified “suitable habitat” layers.

- Credits:  FVEG

CALFIRE, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection: 
Data disclaimer:  
The State of California and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy of data or maps. The user will not seek to hold the State or the Department liable under any circumstances for any damages with respect to any claim by the user or any third party on account of or arising from the use of data or maps.



California Department of Fish and Wildlife CWHR version 9.0 (CDFW); 2014

California Department of Fish and Wildlife: 
Data disclaimer:  
The State makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or adequacy of these data and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in these data. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to these data. 



Conservation Strategy for the California Spotted Owl in the Sierra Nevada, US Forest Service, 2019

USDA Forest Service: 
Data disclaimer:  
The USDA Forest Service makes no warranty, expressed or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or utility of these geospatial data, or for the improper or incorrect use of these geospatial data. These geospatial data and related maps or graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The data and maps may not be used to determine title, ownership, legal descriptions or boundaries, legal jurisdiction, or restrictions that may be in place on either public or private land. Natural hazards may or may not be depicted on the data and maps, and land users should exercise due caution. The data are dynamic and may change over time. The user is responsible to verify the limitations of the geospatial data and to use the data accordingly.