Portland Chapter
Date: Monday, March 15, 2010
Where: World Forestry Center
When: 5:30pm Social Hour, 6:30pm - Dinner (meal is $20.00), 7:00pm - Program
Program: Barred Owl Effects on the Northern Spotted Owl: A Conservation Conundrum
Speakers: Robin Bown and Jim Thrailkill, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists
Please RSVP to Michele Docy () at 503.224.8046 by Friday, March 12.
Barred Owl Effects on the Northern Spotted Owl: A Conservation Conundrum
At the Portland SAF Chapter's March meeting, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists Robin Bown and Jim Thrailkill will provide information on the Service's efforts to implement the recovery plan. In particular, their presentation will cover efforts in 1) updating the spotted owl survey protocol and 2) barred owl experimental removal.
The northern spotted owl is a federally threatened species in the Pacific Northwest. Concurrent with the species decline has been the rapid invasion of its range and habitat by barred owls, a native species that was restricted, until relatively recently, to eastern North America. While it is accepted to a large degree that barred owls are either causing or exacerbating declines of spotted owl populations, there are confounding factors such habitat loss and bad weather that also may contribute to declines of spotted owls. Both theory and empirical information indicate that barred owls are likely to have negative effects on spotted owl range and density, but the degree of impact is not predictable. There is a conservation conundrum here, in that the barred owl is a native species that has expanded its range westwards, either naturally or with a degree of human facilitation, and now constituents a major threat to the viability to another native species, the threatened northern spotted owl.
In May 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a recovery plan for the northern spotted owl. The recovery plan recommends 34 specific actions to facilitate spotted owl recovery. These actions range from habitat protection in a reserve system to the implementation of large-scale barred owl control experiments. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) have formed several work groups to help implement the recovery actions.
Robin Bown has been employed by the Federal government for the past 24 years working on Pacific Northwest forestry and wildlife issues. She has worked for the Service for the past 19 years, concentrating on marbled murrelet and spotted owl projects. She currently leads the team developing the Environmental Impact Statement for the controlled experimental removal of barred owls. Jim Thrailkill has served as the Service's spotted owl technical specialist until recently taking the job of supervisor of the Service's Roseburg Field Office. He is the chair of the Service's Barred Owl Work Group, an interagency team charged with implementation of spotted owl recovery actions related to the barred owl. Jim has published research papers on a variety of forest-raptor species and has served on numerous technical committees related to federal and state forest management.
2010 OSAF Annual Meeting: Forestry from the Ground Up
As the title implies, the OSAF Annual Meeting program will emphasize current and emerging on-the-ground strategies and practices for managing forest resources. The meeting will kick off at 1:00 PM on April 7 with a discussion of the current state of the art and science of on-the-ground forestry, with attention to each of the major ownerships: state, BLM, USFS, tribal, industrial, and family. Each speaker will present their experience with on-the-ground strategies and practices on each ownership.
The second day will include a full slate of concurrent technical sessions. In the morning, there will be presentations about technological innovations in field-oriented equipment and software and recent advances in reforestation practices. In the afternoon, the sessions will focus on silvicultural innovations and on new equipment and methods for managing roads, stream crossings and riparian areas. Finally, on day three, attendees will have the choice of attending one of two field tours. The first will be oriented toward the management of forests on different ownerships east of Albany including the Cascades, while the other tour group will explore the same issues but venture westward into the Coast Range.
The meeting will take place at the Linn County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Albany Oregon on April 7-9. More information and registration available here.
2010 Meeting Calendar
January 25 MHCC, 7pm, Vitalie Gulca, "Forestry in Moldova"
February 18 Portland Building, Noon, Rep. Kurt Schrader, "Forestry Issues in the PNW"
March 15 World Forestry Center, 7pm, Jim Thraikill/Robin Brown, "Spotted and Barred Owls"
April 19 WFC, 7pm, TBA
May 17 WFC, 7pm, TBA
September 13 WFC, 7pm, TBA, 50-year Awards
October 18 WFC, 7pm, TBA, 50-year Awards
November 15 WFC, 7pm, TBA
December 20 WFC, 7pm, TBA, Holiday Party
2010 Chapter Officers
Chair: Mike Taylor
Past Chair: Roger Lord
