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Determining the Status of Northern Goshawks in the West: Is Our 342 COMMENT•m¾ VOL. 32, No. 4 MCLEOD, M.A. AND D.E. ANDERSON. 1998. Red-shoul- CHESNE¾.1998. Status and trends of the Ashy Storm- dered Hawk broadcastsurveys: factors affecting detec- petrel on southeastFarallon Island, California, based tion of responsesand population trends. J. Wildl. upon capture-recaptureanalyses. Condor 100:438-447. Manage.62:1385-1397. TAYLOR, B.L. AND T. GERRODETTE. 1993. The uses of sta- P^GEL,J.E. ANDD.A. BELL.1997. Reply to Cade et al. tisticalpower in conservationbiology: the Vaquitaand regarding de-listingthe American Peregrine Falcon. Northern SpottedOwl. Conserv.Biol. 7:489-500. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 25:739-742. TITUS, K. AND M.R. FULLER. 1990. Recent trends in counts , •D B.E. NORTON.1996. De-listing the of migrant hawks from northeastern North America. American Peregrine Falcon: Is it premature? Wildl. J. Wildl.Manage. 54:463-470. Soc. Bull. 24:429-435. W•,D, J.M. •'4D P.L. K•NNED¾.1996. Effects of supple- REYNOLDS,R.T ANDS.M. JoY. 1998. Distribution, territory mental food on sizeand survivalof juvenile Northern occupancy,dispersal, and demography of Northern Goshawks. Auk 113:200-208. Goshawkson the Kaibab Plateau, Arizona. Unpubl. WHITE, C.M. ANDL.E IrdFF.1998. Language use and mis- Final Rep. for Arizona Game and Fish, Heritage Pro- applied, selective "science"; their roles in swaying ject No. 194045. public opinion and policy as shownwith two North ROMESBURG,H.C. 1981. Wildlife science:gaining reliable American raptors.Pages 547-560 in Chancellor,R.D., knowledge.J. Wildl.Manage. 45:293-313. B.-U. Meyburg andJJ. Ferrero [EDs.].Holarctic birds --. 1989. More on gaining reliable knowledge:a re- of prey. Adenex and World Working Group of Birds ply.J. Wildl.Manage. 55:767-773. of Prey, Mfirida, Spain. ROSENFIELD,R.N., J. BIELEFELDT,D.R. TREXELAND T.C.J. WHITE, G.C. ANDR.A. GARROTT.1990. Analysisof wildlife DOOLITTLE.1998. Breeding distribution and nest-site radio-tracking data. Academic Press,New York, NY habitat of Northern Goshawksin Wisconsin.J. Raptor U.S.A. Res. 32:189-194. --, A.B. FRANKLINAND J.P. WARD. 1995. Population SCHMIEGELOW,F.K.A., C.S. M^CHT•S •D S.J. HANNON. biology.Pages 1-25 in USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, 1997. Are boreal birds resilient to forest fragmenta- Recoveryplan for the Mexican SpottedOwl, Chap. 2. tion? An experimental studyof short-term community Vol. II. Albuquerque, NM U.S.A. responses.Ecology 78:1914-1932. WOODBRIDGE,B. ANDPJ. DETRICH.1994. Territory occu- SQUIP•S,J.R. •ND R.T. REYNOLDS.1997. Northern Gos- pancy and habitat patch size of Northern Goshawks hawk (Acdpitergentilis). In A. Poole and F. Gill [EDS.], in the southern Cascades of California. Stud. Avian The birds of North America, No. 298. The Academy Biol. 16:83-87. of Natural Sciences,Philadelphia, PA U.S.A. SYDEMAN,W.J., N. NUR, E.B. MCLARENAND GJ. Mc- Received 1 August 1998; accepted 24 August 1998 j RaptorRes. 32 (4) :342-348 ¸ 1998 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. DETERMINING THE STATUS OF NORTHERN Gosi-•w• IN THE WEST: Is OUR CONCEPTUAL MODEL CORRECT? STEPHEN DESTEFANO U.S. GeologicalSurvey, Arizona CooperativeFish and WildlifeResearch Unit, 104 BiologicalSciences East, Universityof Arizona,Tucson, AZ 85721 U.S.A. In federal district court in Tucson, Arizona recently,a owls.Defenders of Wildlife, as the plaintiff, was suing to case was heard regarding the statusof the Endangered stop the development. Owls had been seenjust north Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-owl(Glaucidium brasilianum and south of the boundary of the property in question, cactorum)and developmentin the Tucson basin (Defend- and the attorney for the defense built part of her case ers of Wildlife vs. Amphitheater School District). The on the fact that an owl had not actuallybeen seen inside western population (Arizona) of the CactusFerruginous the property boundary. She used this "uncertainty" Pygmy-owlhad been listed in 1997 under the Endan- about the owls' use of the property, as well as other as- gered SpeciesAct (ESA), and a local schooldistrict want- pects of its little-known ecologyin Arizona, to her advan- ed to build on an area allegedly used by one or more tage and stated in court "there comesa point where the DECEMBER 1998 COMMENTARY 343 best evidence available isn't good enough" (Nintzel izens, and to deemphasize the concept of "us" vs. 1998). "them" that so often plagues conservationdebates. That statementis a big problem for biologistsin court, and one that could alwaysbe usedagainst us. The "best A RECENT HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE evidence available" will alwaysinvolve uncertainty be- Northern Spotted Owl as Conservation Model. It cause our best data are usually sample data, which, by would be a mistaketo evaluatethe statusof any candidate definition, contain uncertainty (Ramsey and Schafer speciesfor listing under the ESA, and particularly any 1997), and we will rarely haveall the data we need. "Un- forest raptor, without first considering the history and certainty" is not a negativeconcept in science,but part implications of the Northern Spotted Owl issue in the of the process(Murphy and Noon 1991, Williams et al. Pacific Northwest. Yaffee (1994) called the spotted owl 1996). The courts, however,view uncertainty as equiva- lent to "a shadow of doubt." If conservationists are al- controversya "watershed event" in resource and envi- ronmental policy. In many wayswe entered a new era •n wayscharged with the burden of proof, we will more of- ten than not lose in court, which is where conservation conservation,with myriad implicationsin policy,poliucs, and public relations. Important among them wasa stron- and resource management decisionsare made with in- ger focus on ecosystemsas the public, through the me- creasingfrequency. dia, sawthe extent of the destruction of old-growthforest The status of the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-owlhas (i.e., native forest unaltered by human activitieswith nat- implicationsfor a small part of the world--the few par- ural processes[e.g., hydrology,succession, wind-throw, cels of undevelopedland in the unplanned and overde- velopedTucson basin of southernArizona. The statusof fire] intact). The alteration of ecosystemsin North Amer- another raptor, the Northern Goshawk(Accipiter gentilis ica was not new--consider, for example, weftands, prai- ries, and deserts--but the focus and level of attention was atricapillus)has much broaderimplications. The goshawk •s distributed in forested areas throughout much of somethingdifferent. Equallyimportant wasa demonstra- North America, and the implicationsof listing this spe- tion of the power and reach of the ESA. This law became ciesas Threatened or Endangered under the ESA are far- a potent tool for environmentalists;any citizen could pe- reaching and important, perhapseven more so than the tition for a listing (Rohlf 1989), and if listing occurred, listingof the Northern SpottedOwl (Strixoccidentalis caur- there was legal power to alter the rate of resource ex- traction. ina) as a Threatened Speciesin 1990. Like the Northern Spotted Owl, the goshawkis a forest raptor dependent, Bridging concerns over the loss of old-growth forests at least partially, on older forest, and thus millions of and the power of the ESA to change that trend wasper- dollars worth of timber are involved. This certainly haps an ideal species:a somewhatmysterious but easily heightensthe interest of the public, the Congress,and photographed (and thus newsworthy)owl that was an the courts.In addition, the goshawkoccurs over a much old-growthobligate (Forsman et al. 1984). The listing of broader geographicarea than the Northern SpottedOwl. the Northern Spotted Owl under the ESA as a Threat- Regardlessof the final decisionto list or not list the gos- ened Speciesbrought harvestof old-growth timber in the hawk, court is likely where we are headed. region to a standstill,an environmental issueto the at- This paper representssome thoughtson the statusof tention of the nation, and a president to Portland, goshawksin the West,including a reviewof recent events Oregon for a national meeting. The old growth-Northern that helped shape the debate over Endangered Species Spotted Owl model of controversy,confrontation, and management,a summaryof availabledata on goshawk conservationbecame a template for protection of nature. ecology,some suggestionsfor additional data that could A Parallel Course?During the latter stagesof the spot- or shouldbe collected,and somequestions on how pro- ted owl issue,Crocker-Bedford (1990) published a paper fessionalbiologists, environmental groups, and societyin on goshawkreproduction and forest managementin Ar- general invoke and use the ESA. It is also a forum for izona, citing a correlation between excessivetimber har- me to air some of my own uncertaintiesregarding the vest and lossof goshawkbreeding territories. Petitions to statusof this speciesand some suggestionsfor coursesof list the goshawksoon followed (Kennedy 1997). At issue action for its management and conservation.I hope that again was not only concern for the continued existence any or all of this fostersadditional discussion. I focuson of a species,but a desire to stop logging in old-growth goshawkswest of the 100th meridian, and refer to this as forest: not just the mesic forests of Douglas-fir (Pseudo- the West, becausethat has been the geographicscope of tsugamenziesii), western hemlock (Tsugaheterophylla), and recent listing petitions (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service firs (Abiesspp.) westof the CascadeRange, but the much 1998b) and includes the area where most of the recent more widespread drier forests of Ponderosa pine (P, nus ecological and demographic research has occurred ponderosa),lodgepole pine (P contorta),and mixed com- (Block et al. 1994, Kennedy1997, Squiresand Reynolds fers of the interior West. We had just seen a demonstra- 1997). Finally,I make liberal use of the pronoun "we" tion of the power of the ESA to slow the pace of timber throughout the paper to emphasizethe idea that conser- harvest to the benefit of Northern Spotted Owls;perhaps vation issuesare the concern and responsibilityof all cit- this was the best course for the goshawk.
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