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Project ID: 04-2-1-52

Year: 2004

Date Started: 05/03/2004

Date Completed: 10/26/2007

Title: Productivity and Habitat Use of Spotted Owls in Relation to Fire Severity in Southwestern Oregon: Can Prescribed Burns be Used to Reduce Fire Hazards in Spotted Owl Habitat?

Project Proposal Abstract: Wildfire has historically been an important disturbance in the forests of southwestern Oregon. In the last 100 years the natural fire regime in this area has undergone significant changes as a result of fire suppression. Forest stands have become more dense as understories have developed without periodic wildfire. This has created conditions where forests that historically experienced low severity/high frequency wildfire are now prone to low frequency/high severity fire. Land managers are developing and implementing strategies to reduce the potential for catastrophic and/or stand replacing high severity wildland fire. These strategies focus on reducing surface fuels, ladder fuels, and crown densities using prescribed burning. At several spatial scales, the primary habitat/life history requirements of Threatened and Endangered species need to be considered when developing strategies for implementing prescribed fire. The geographic range of northern spotted owls, a Federally listed threatened species, includes southwestern Oregon. There is little information available on the effects of prescribed fire on the nesting, foraging and roosting requirements of spotted owls. This proposal addresses the Joint Fire Science Program Announcement for proposals :2004-2, Task 1; to directly address locally important knowledge or data gaps associated with planning and implementation of wildland fire, fuels treatment or post-fire treatment actions that are specifically identified by an agency administrator. We are proposing to gather post-wildfire occupancy and reproductive success data at known spotted owl territories where pre-fire data exists at three study areas in southwestern Oregon. We will radio-tag a sample of spotted owls at one study area where an earlier radio telemetry study was conducted and compare pre to post-fire habitat utilization. We will use statistical analyses to relate spotted owl occupancy, reproductive success, nesting, roosting, and foraging relative to the pattern and severity of wildfire. We will use data from wildfire affected landscapes to develop guidelines that will assist land managers in planning and implementing prescribed fire in spotted owl territories in southwestern Oregon.

Principal Investigator: Robert G. Anthony

Agency/Organization: Oregon State University

Branch or Dept: Department of Fisheries & Wildlife

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Federal Cooperator	Lance Nimmo	BLM-Bureau of Land Management	Medford District, Butte Falls Resource Area

Project Locations

Consortium

California

Northwest

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	6602	MS Thesis	Demography and Habitat Selection of Northern Spotted Owls in Post-Fire Landscapes of Southwestern Oregon
	6601	Progress Report
	6600	Progress Report

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documents are available for this project.

Brief

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