Judge blocks Grazing on "Endangered Owl" Lands

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Health & Science: Grazing temporarily blocked on endangered owl lands

TUCSON, Ariz. (November 25, 2002 10:42 p.m. EST) - A federal judge has issued an injunction that could temporarily ban cattle grazing on huge swaths of national forest land identified as nesting and foraging sites for the endangered Mexican spotted owl.

U.S. District Judge Raner Collins' order blocking grazing in areas of Arizona and New Mexico was signed Thursday in response to a lawsuit by environmental groups who want to remove cattle from spotted owl habitat.

The injunction is set to kick in Jan. 22. But it won't go into effect if the Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service complete a new biological review before then, Collins said.

The last such review, which resulted in amended grazing standards set by the Forest Service in 1996, took a couple of years to complete, said Jim Angell, an attorney for Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm and a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Those standards were designed to protect owl habitat and ensure its survival. Grazing threatens the owl by reducing its favorite prey, degrading streamside vegetation and slowing the growth of habitat favorable to the bird, environmentalists contend.

"Frankly, they may try to hurry this through so the time grazing is enjoined is shortened," Angell said Monday of the biological review. "My fear is they will try to rush this thing out as quickly as possible and, as a result, their analysis will be shoddy."

Collins didn't specify how many acres were included in the injunction, but Angell put the number at at least 200,000. Attorneys representing the Justice Department and the Arizona Cattle Growers Association didn't return calls seeking comment Monday.

Collins' injunction is the latest step in a long-running lawsuit over the owl habitat. Last month, he found that the Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to prevent overgrazing on millions of acres of national forest in the two states.

The government or the Arizona Cattle Growers Association could appeal Collins' order. Art Morrison, a spokesman for the Forest Service's regional headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., said officials haven't consulted with the Justice Department on the ruling yet.

The injunction is set to kick in Jan. 22. But it won't go into effect if the Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service complete a new biological review before then, Collins said.

I guess the environmentally correct thing to do is to set up a 60-day deadline...........

The last such review, which resulted in amended grazing standards set by the Forest Service in 1996, took a couple of years to complete,.........

for a study that takes rather more than 60 days to complete.

Rather that afraid, Angell is salivating at the prospect. Even if the biological review is the most complete and highest quality ever, Angell will sue because of the reports "shoddines". This looks like another case of a judge with an agenda, setting up someone to be sued again and again.

This story doesn't jibe at all with info from data at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Spotted Owl Website

Habitat Associations

Mexican spotted owls nest, roost, forage, and disperse in a diverse assemblage of biotic communities. Mixed-conifer forests are commonly used throughout most of the range which may include Douglas-fir and/or white fir, with codominant species including southwestern white pine, limber pine, and ponderosa pine. The understory often contains the above coniferous species as well as broadleaved species such as Gambel oak, maples, box elder, and/or New Mexico locust. In southern Arizona and Mexico, Madrean pine-oak forests are also commonly used. These forests are tpically dominated by an overstory of Chihuahua and Apache pines (and probably other species in Mexico) in conjunction with species such as Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, and Arizona cypress. Evergreen oaks are typically prominent in the understory (Brown et al. 1980). In the northern part of the range, including southern Utah, southern Colorado, and far northern Arizona and New Mexico, owls occur primarily in rocky canyons (Kertell 1977, Reynolds 1990, Rinkevich 1991, Willey 1993).

Spotted owls nest and roost primarily in closed-canopy forests or rocky canyons. They nest in these areas on cliff ledges, in stick nests built by other birds, on debris platforms in trees, and in tree cavities. In southern Utah, Colorado, and some portions of northern New Mexico, most nests are in caves or on cliff ledges in rocky canyons. Elsewhere, they also use caves and cliffs, but the majority of nests appear to be in trees. Forests used for roosting and nesting often contain mature or old-growth stands with complex structure, are typically uneven-aged, multistoried, and have high canopy closure. A wider variety of trees are used for roosting, but again Douglas-fir is the most commonly used species.

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain why spotted owls typically nest in closed-canopy forests. One hypothesis suggests that spotted owls are relatively intolerant of high temperatures, and roost and nest in shady forests because they provide favorable microclimatic conditions (Barrows 1981). This could explain why owls typically nest in either closed-canopy forests or deep shady canyons, as both habitat types provide cool microclimates. Ganey et al. (1993) provided support for this hypothesis. They observed that metabolic rates were higher and rates of evaporative water loss lower in Mexican spotted owls than in sympatric great horned owls, a habitat generalist. Thus, spotted owls appeared to produce more metabolic heat than great horned owls, and were less able to dissipate that heat. This may lead them to seek out cool microclimates during the breeding season (Ganey et al. 1993).

Little is known about patterns of habitat use by foraging owls. The only available data describe habitat use by eight owls occupying five home ranges on three study areas in northern Arizona (Ganey and Balda 1994). In general, owls clearly foraged in a wider variety of forest conditions than they used for roosting.

Feeding Habits

Forsman (1976) described spotted owls as "perch and pounce" predators. They typically locate prey from an elevated perch by sight or sound, then pounce on the prey and capture it with their talons. Most information on the food habits of Mexican spotted owls comes from analyses of regurgitated pellets. Specific prey groups identified from spotted owl pellets included woodrats, mice, voles, rabbits, gophers, bats, birds, reptiles, and arthropods. The diet in most areas was heavily dominated by small, terrestrial, nocturnal mammals, but species composition varied among areas. Woodrats were generally more abundant in pellet samples collected from northern latitudes, and peromyscid mice and birds were generally more abundant in southern regions of the owl's range. Voles appear more common in the diet of owls dwelling at higher elevations.

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