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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 31, 2006 Watershed Thinning Owl impact is focus of final push Group hopes USFS will takes ideas into account By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Protection of the Northern spotted owl, and its habitat in Ashland’s watershed, is one of the final issues left to be worked out in the community alternative to the Ashland Forest Resiliency project, an effort to thin the woodlands above the city in order to make this area more safe from wildfire. There are two versions of a plan to log, thin and use controlled burns in sections of Ashland’s watershed in order to make this forest more resistant to wildfire: the Forest Service’s proposed plan and one being done by the City of Ashland. Once Ashland’s is completed, members of the AFR Community Alternative Technical Committee anticipate that the two plans will be melded together into one work plan used to make the watershed safer from wildfire. But before the AFRCAT Committee forwards their final version to the Forest Service, members wanted to first ensure that they were doing everything they could to protect spotted owls from the effects of the work. On Monday night, the committee invited several federal officials familiar with spotted-owl habitat in the Siskiyou Mountains, and the effects forest thinning projects have on the owls’ lifestyles, in order to ensure that their plan has done all that it can to disrupt the owls as little as possible. Craig Tuss, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dave Clayton and Jeff Von Kienast, both forest biologists with the Forest Service, told the group that, yes, there would be some “adverse effects” to spotted owls and their habitat. But, they added, this does not mean the project isn’t worthwhile or even, in the long run, bad for spotted owls. “Don’t get too hung up on adverse effects,” Tuss told the group. “Adverse effect doesn’t mean it’s bad or a failed project. It just means we’re taking it a little more seriously.” Because the northern spotted owl is listed as a federally threatened species, USFW will eventually make an evaluation of the forest thinning plan for its effects on the owls and their habitat. Tuss said if his agency feels the owls will be negatively affected to any significant degree, they will recommend that the Forest Service make changes to the work plan. However, upon inspection of the AFRCAT proposal, he didn’t see reason to be concerned, even though spotted owls will be disrupted by the scope of the work, which will alter vegetation in the owls’ nesting and foraging grounds. “A lot of work done to restore habitat will rise to ‘may affect,’” Tuss said. But he added, “There is a lot of room between ‘may effect’ and ‘jeopardize.’” He said the nature of restorative work is that it changes conditions in order to eventually improve upon them. “It could have short-term effects for a decade or 20 years. But after 20 years it could be better than it was before,” he said. Marty Main, Ashland’s forester and a member of the AFRCAT Committee, said he was encouraged by the endorsement of Tuss and the other officials. He said the committee would look over the owl habitat maps one more time before forwarding its alternative to the city council for ratification before it is then sent on to the Forest Service for potential incorporation into the Final Environmental Impact Statement. “We owe it to the folks we are representing to look this over one more time,” Main said. The council had scheduled three weeks ago a meeting with Linda Duffy, of the Ashland Ranger District of the Forest Service, to discuss what planning still needs to be done before this project can be implemented. However, the meeting was canceled when only two councilors — Cate Hartzell and Kate Jackson — showed up. Another meeting will be held before the Forest Service recommends a final version of the plan to use forest-thinning practices to protect the watershed form wildfire. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 226 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams