April 22nd 1999

(One part of the harvest plan process 4/22/99)

By Lisa Norman
The Mendocino Beacon
July 5, 1999

On last Wednesday's field trip through the Clearbrook timber harvest plan of the Albion watershed, Leonard Bowers, retired sailor, civil engineer, and elected director of the East Bay Regional Park District, now retired on Navarro Ridge for the past five years, asserted that forest healing would take place with the enlightenment of landowners, management executives, and the public. That enlightenment can only take place with open communication and education.

Bill Stevens, Mendocino Redwood Co. biologist, educated the 15-plus-member group on what exactly is done during the spotted owl call--the part of the timber harvest plan process that follows the area forester's mapping of the trees to be harvested. The call is a requirement before the plan can be approved.

An owl survey is scheduled in summer months between March and August. The surveying crew goes out at night in an area marked for harvest and hoots, literally mimics the sound of the owl. "They are territorial creatures and will respond to defend their territory," said Stevens.

Stevens worked for Louisiana-Pacific since 1989 and continued to work for MRC once the timberland purchase was completed last June.

At night, owls forage for food. If their sounds are heard in the evening, the same area will be revisited the next morning to determined whether or not the owls also nest in the same area. Forest Practice Rules dictate protection measures for owl habitat, which is one reason why foresters need to know where the owls are, said Stevens.

Typically he will go out at sunset, sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and survey until 11 p.m. or midnight, said Stevens. He'll camp out, then wake at sunrise to call again. The standard protocol, if an owl heard the evening before, is to survey one square mile from the area in which the sound was heard.

Historical information is kept on owl sitings, with numbers assigned to specific owl sites kept in a database that is useful in future surveys. The survey crew has a map of these sites to assist them in their owl calling.

Owls are one of the few wildlife species conducive to human contact, said Stevens. Live lab mice are offered to them in the morning as part of the process of determining whether of not they are nesting, he continued.

"If the female is incubating eggs in the nest, the male will come down and take the mouse up to the nest. If they're not nesting, the adults will keep eating." Should the determination be made that they are nesting, another check is made in one or two weeks to see if the young have fledged.

In addition to identifying nesting sites, the survey crew also takes an actual count of the owls. An aluminum numbered band for easier recognition from a distance, is placed on the owl's foot. A noose pole is used to harness the owl once it comes down to feed on the mice, and it is then taken to the ground and numbered accordingly.

The local state department of Fish and Game teaches survey crews how to mimic owl sounds, however, tape-recorded sounds may also be used, said Stevens. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sets the Protocol that everyone is familiar with, he added.


MRC 'focused on the large and important task'