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* Metric Name: California Spotted Owl Suitable Habitat  

* Tier: 1  

* Data Vintage: 04/2023  

* Unit Of Measure: Categorical

  

* Metric Definition and Relevance: 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 Service 2019). The conservation strategy for the California
spotted owl in the Sierra Nevada 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 (reproduction) 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 2023 for canopy cover, size class and vegetation type. 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 or foraging of that species in the California Wildlife Habitat Relationship database. Habitat which meets the following criteria is considered suitable:

  * Suitable vegetation types: WHRTYPE = PPN, SMC, RFR, DFR, MHC, MHW, SMC, WFR, RDW, KMC MRI and BOP
  * Suitable foraging habitat: size/density classes = 4M, 4D
  * Suitable nesting (reproduction) habitat: size/density classes = 5M, 5D, 6

CWHR high and moderate suitability values have been used to create separate
data layers which identify suitable nesting (reproduction) and suitable
foraging habitat. These data have been combined to create the identified
“suitable habitat” layers. The combined suitable habitat layer has been
further refined and clipped to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species
range extent.

  

* Credits: * FVEG 2023 * California Department of Fish and Wildlife CWHR version 9.0 (CDFW); 2014