Committee for the Review and Oversight of the TRPA and the Marlette Lake Water System

STATE OF NEVADA Department of Conservation & Natural Resources Steve Sisolak, Governor Bradley Crowell, Director Charles Donohue, Administrator

MEMORANDUM

DATE: December 11, 2019

TO: Committee for the Review and Oversight of the TRPA and the Marlette Lake Water System

THROUGH: Charles Donohue, Administrator

FROM: Meredith Gosejohan, Tahoe Program Manger

SUBJECT: California spotted owls in Nevada

The following information on the California spotted owl in Nevada is in response to questions from the Committee during the meeting held on November 19, 2019.

Currently, there is only one known nesting pair of spotted owls in the State of Nevada. The pair were discovered in Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park in 2015 and have occupied the same territory every year since. The territory is monitored annually by the Nevada Tahoe Resource Team’s (NTRT) biologist from the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW). The pair has successfully fledged one juvenile from the nest in three different years: 2015, 2017, and 2018. There have also been five documented incidental spotted owl sightings in other parts of the Carson Range since 2015.

These spotted owls are a subspecies called the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis). There are two other subspecies in the western United States (Northern and Mexican), both of which are federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The California spotted owl was recently petitioned for federal listing as well, but the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced in November 2019, that listing was not warranted at this time. (Click here to read the decisions summary)

Spotted owls are native to the Tahoe Basin, though they have been relatively rare on the Nevada side and are typically observed on the California side or other parts of the Sierra Nevada. This is due to a combination of factors that make the Carson Range less suitable, including a slightly drier climate, more sparse vegetation, paucity of old-growth forests (from historical logging), and

Agenda Item VII A-2 (TAHOE) Meeting Date: 11-19-19 the fact that it is on the very edge of the species’ geographical range (i.e. limited connectivity to other populations). Historical records from Tahoe are lacking, but a report commissioned for the US Forest Service (USFS) and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency in 1971 described the abundance of spotted owls in the Lake Tahoe Basin as “few” but population status as “stable.” In 1988, the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit was directed to “maintain surveillance for spotted owls” and establish protective measures for the species.

Status as a sensitive species The California spotted owl is listed in Nevada as a “Species of Conservation Priority” by NDOW and a “Species of Special Concern” in California. Further, the owls are listed as a “Sensitive Species” by USFS Regions 4 and 5 (Carson Ranger District and Lake Tahoe Basin respectively). This means that all state and federal jurisdictions operating at Lake Tahoe take special measures to survey for and protect spotted owls. The California spotted owl is not federally protected by the Endangered Species Act, so there is no federal oversight of the species. However, the owls are federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, prohibiting intentional “take” of any owl or nest per federal law, subject to the oversight of the USFWS.

Implications to development and projects on the Nevada side of the Basin Due to the California spotted owl’s status as a sensitive species at multiple jurisdictional levels, impacts to the owls are considered in every NEPA review in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Therefore, spotted owl surveys are almost always conducted prior to projects on our public lands. Spotted owl nests receive special protective measures to avoid or minimize disturbance, usually in the form of temporal or spatial buffers around nests during project activities that might cause acute disturbance. For example, trail, utility, and tree thinning projects are implemented with proper protections near spotted owl nests. Coordination between project proponents, land managers, and area biologists is essential in these cases to facilitate both project implementation and species conservation in backcountry areas at Tahoe. Spotted owls are not typically found in urbanized or developed areas due to their preference for old-growth forests so implications for projects in developed locations around Lake Tahoe is minimal.

Was this the first owl spotted on the Nevada side? No, spotted owls have presumably been observed on rare occasions on the Nevada side for decades. The first ever sighting is unknown, but USFS surveys in 2001-02 produced several spotted owl sightings from the Carson Range. The first documented nesting of spotted owls in Nevada occurred on USFS managed land in 2009, about one mile from the Lake Tahoe Basin boundary. Spotted owls successfully nested at that location for three years, and it was the only known spotted owl nest in Nevada during that time. The spotted owls have not occupied that territory since about 2012. A new spotted owl nest was discovered by NDOW during surveys in Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park in 2015 before the Spooner Landscape Resilience Project took place, and remains the only known active spotted owl nest in Nevada today.

We will never know the exact origin of this nesting pair of spotted owls, but since the Carson Range is the only mountain range in Nevada where they are known to occur, colonizing

State Land Office • State Land Use Planning Agency • Nevada Tahoe Resource Program • Q1 Conservation Bond Program 901 S. Stewart Street, Suite 5003 • Carson City, Nevada 89701 • p: 775.684.2720 • f: 775.684.2721 • lands.nv.gov individuals would have most likely come from California. As recently as 2012, there were approximately 12 territories that were consistently active and another nine territories with inconsistent activity on the California side of Tahoe.

California has a greater amount of contiguous suitable habitat (i.e. old growth forests) for spotted owls in the Sierra Nevada, so there are likely dispersing juveniles looking for a new home each year. Some of those juveniles could wind up on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. Likewise, juveniles have successfully fledged from the two Nevada nests, and it is also possible that they dispersed to another location in Nevada.

Future surveys Additional spotted owl nests probably exist elsewhere in the Carson Range and we hope to identify nesting sites during a future survey effort. NDOW is currently planning a spotted owl survey effort in the Carson Range, including the Lake Tahoe Basin, during 2020 and 2021. We expect to find additional nests during that survey effort to further our conservation efforts for the species.