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Spotted Owl photo by Ken Bevis.
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Kittitas Conservation Concerns
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Northern Spotted Owl (NSO): The Spotted Owl is a shy bird, very specialized, nests in old growth forest, and has a diet mainly of flying squirrels. It has decreased at the alarming rate of 40-60 percent in the past ten years, and the Teanaway area in Kittitas County is an area where the decrease is most severe. Therefore, Kittitas Audubon has combined with Seattle Audubon to push for further protections for the Spotted Owl, both at the federal level and at the Washington State level. When the Owl was listed as endangered in the 1990’s, the Endangered Species Act mandates that a recovery plan be adopted by the Federal Government (USFWS). Instead of a Spotted Owl Recovery Plan the NW Forest Plan was adopted placing the burden for recovery solely on Federal lands. Ten years later we find that the NSO population has declined by 50% from the time the owl was listed. In the last quarter of 2005 Kittitas and Seattle Audubon chapters filed suit against the USFWS asking them to complete and adopt an NSO recovery plan. That process is now under way and the plan will be released for public comment in the near future. While the Audubon chapters were only one cog in the wheel that brought this about, we do have a seat at the table with 2 conservation people (one from our state office and one from Oregon) on the team writing the plan. Politics is a major portion of the negotiations. At the State level, the Forest Practices Board (FPB) and the Department of Natural Resources are responsible for owls on state and private land. Earlier this year the Washington Environmental Council successfully negotiated the protection of large blocks of NSO habitat on state lands. We thank them for their hard work and diligence. Kittitas and Seattle Audubon have been in negotiations with the Forest Practices Board for several years to provide better protection for owl habitat on private lands. In particular we have been working to protect owls that have no protections at all under the State rules. This culminated last summer with a series of hearings and some minor changes to the Washington State Owl Rule. At that time the FPB made us aware that they would not be doing any more changes to the owl rule. Since no substantive changes were made Kittitas and Seattle Audubon moved forward with filing suit against the State which allows "take" of NSO with their rule and Weyerhauser for "take". In early November that suit was filed. Shortly after we filed an injunction with the court asking that logging be prevented in the NSO habitat specified in the suit. And now we wait..... "Take" is a legal term from the Endangered Species Act dealing with causing harm to a listed species. For more information about the Northern Spotted Owl visit the Seattle Audubon webpage. For more information about the Washington State Owl Rule visit the Forest Practices Board webpage. You will have to search for spotted owl to find information. Windfarms in Kittitas County Three windfarms have been proposed for Kittitas County. One project, planned in a migratry flyway, has been rejected by the County Planning Commission and the County Commissioners, mainly because of its proximity to many homes. The second was approved and is presently being constructed in shrub-steppe habitat in northeast Kittitas County. The third is in the hearings process and is located in the same area as the rejected project, i.e., a migratory flyway north of Ellensburg along Hwy 97. Kittitas Audubon has opposed all three projects because of the liability likelihood to birds, bats, and habitat. No research has been done on migration of song birds, or bats. No studies were done at night. Limited point counts were performed for less than a year and migrations in spring and fall coincide with wind patterns in this area. Kittitas Audubon supports renewable resources, but placement of 64 to 80 wind towers with blades reaching up to 410 feet (40 story buildings) into the air is the paramount issue. I-90 Wildlfe Bridges Will wildlife crossings get pushed aside by I-90's November rockslide? Kittitas Audubon members are closely monitoring plans by the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT) to put I-90 road re-construction on a fast track following a large rockslide on Nov. 6th. The slide damaged the highway through Snoqualmie Pass and restricted traffic on Washington's main east-west route for commerce and recreation. For the past year, Kittitas Audubon and other groups in the I-90 Wildlife Coalition have worked with WSDOT to provide animal crossings when the road is widened and improved in the future. The coalition, originally the Cascade Conservation Partnership, purchased land to create large areas of wildlife habitat, and is committed to building special "bridges" where wildlife can safely cross over or under the highway allowing gene connectivity for species and preventing collisions between wild animals and motorists. For details of I-90 wildlife crossings go to The I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition. Roadless Area Review The U.S. Forest Service last did a review of the roadless areas left on our national forests in 2000 under President Clinton. The Wenatchee, Okanagan, Colville National Forests are currently reviewing the roadless areas in this area once again. The Comment period closed in September. The decision has not been released yet as of late January 2006. Janet Nelson, Conservation Chair, wrote a letter for Kittitas Audubon expressing concerns about: 1) The decrease in area of 150,000 acres and the potential impact on the Spotted Owl recovery in the Snoqualmie Pass and other areas. 2) The need to consider all the new sections acquired by the FS by trade or purchase since 2000 for inclusion. 3) The need to consider the many smaller roadless areas (+/- 5000 acres) which have never been designated as roadless areas but are indeed roadless. A prime example is the highly popular Mirror Lake/Annette Lake area on Snoqualmie Pass. 4) The methods of exclusion, such as considering jeep trails as roads, were questioned. 5) Newly excluded areas on the Wenatchee National Forest would include:
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