Management Plan for the Short-Eared Owl (Asio Flammeus) in Canada
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PROPOSED Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) in Canada Short-eared Owl 2016 Recommended citation: Environment Canada. 2016. Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) in Canada [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. v + 35 pp. For copies of the management plan, or for additional information on species at risk, including the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Status Reports, residence descriptions, action plans, and other related recovery 1 documents, please visit the Species at Risk (SAR) Public Registry . Cover illustration: © Steve Garvie (Wikipedia Commons) Également disponible en français sous le titre «Plan de gestion du Hibou des marais (Asio flammeus) au Canada [Proposition] » © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of the Environment, 2016. All rights reserved. ISBN Catalogue no. Content (excluding the illustrations) may be used without permission, with appropriate credit to the source. 1 www.sararegistry.gc.ca/default_e.cfm Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl 2016 Preface The federal, provincial and territorial government signatories under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk (1996)2 agreed to establish complementary legislation and programs that provide for effective protection of species at risk throughout Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c. 29) (SARA), the federal competent ministers are responsible for the preparation of management plans for listed species of special concern and are required to report on progress within five years after the publication of the final document on the SAR Public Registry. The Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for the Parks Canada Agency is the competent minister under SARA for the Short-eared Owl and has prepared this management plan as per section 65 of SARA. To the extent possible, it has been prepared in cooperation with the following as per section 66(1) of SARA. • Parks Canada Agency • Department of National Defence • Governments of the Northwest Territories; Alberta; Manitoba; Quebec; New Brunswick; Newfoundland and Labrador; and Nunavut • Tlicho Government • Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board • Nunavut Wildlife Management Board • Sahtu Renewable Resources Board • Wek’eezhii Renewable Resources Board • Wildlife Management Advisory Committee (Northwest Territories) Success in the conservation of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this plan and will not be achieved by Environment Canada and/or the Parks Canada Agency, or any other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing this plan for the benefit of the Short-eared Owl and Canadian society as a whole. Implementation of this management plan is subject to appropriations, priorities and budgetary constraints of the participating jurisdictions and organizations. 2 http://registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=6B319869-1%20 i Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl 2016 Acknowledgments The management plan for the Short-eared Owl was prepared by Vincent Carignan and François Shaffer (Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service [EC-CWS] – Quebec Region), in collaboration with Pierre-André Bernier (consulting biologist) and: EC-CWS – Pacific and Yukon Region – Sofi Hindmarch, Andrea Norris and Pam Sinclair. EC-CWS – Prairie and Northern Region – Donna Bigelow, Ryan Fisher, Samuel Haché, Lisa Pirie and Troy Wellicome. EC-CWS – Ontario Region – Mike Cadman. EC-CWS – Atlantic Region – Jen Rock and Peter Thomas. Parks Canada Agency (PCA) – Diane L. Amirault-Langlais, Eric Tremblay, Joanne Tuckwell and Leah de Forest Government of the Northwest Territories – Department of Environment and Natural Resources: Joanna Wilson. Government of British Columbia – Michael J. Chutter, Retzer Miller, Tori Stevens and Dave Trotter. Government of Alberta – Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development – Mike Russell and Emily Herdman Government of Manitoba – Department of Conservation and Water Stewardship – James Duncan and Ken De Smet. Government of Quebec – Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs – Isabelle Gauthier, Charles Maisonneuve and Antoine St-Louis. Government of New Brunswick – Department of Natural Resources – Maureen Toner. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador - Department of Environment and Conservation – Jessica Humber. Additional contributors include: Geneviève Langlois (EC-CWS – Quebec Region); Natalka Melnycky and Kaytlin Cooper (Gwich’in Renewable Resources Board), Deborah Simmons and Catarina Owen (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board); Karla Letto (Nunavut Wildlife Management Board). ii Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl 2016 Finally, we thank all other parties, including landowners, citizens and stakeholders who provided comments on this document or information used to produce the management plan, as well as Regroupement QuébecOiseaux, EC-CWS and Bird Studies Canada for providing us with the data from the second Québec Breeding Bird Atlas, and the thousands of volunteers who collected data for those projects. iii Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl 2016 Executive Summary The Short-eared Owl is a bird found in natural and anthropogenic open habitats throughout Canada. The status of the species was designated Special Concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) in 1994 and 2008 and has been listed as such in Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (SARA) since 2012. Around 300,000 individuals and 63% of the Short-eared Owl’s North American breeding range are in Canada. The species breeds in all provinces and territories, but is most common in the Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) and along the Arctic coast. Short-eared Owl populations have shown a mean annual decline between 2.3% and 5.2% from the 1960s/1970s to 2012, but the population size seems to have stabilized between 2002 to 2012. The main threats to the Short-eared Owl are habitat loss and degradation (agriculture, urban and commercial development, energy production and mining), activities and events that affect individuals, nests and eggs (grazing, mowing and harvesting, pesticide use, collisions), and climate change. The management objectives for the Short-eared Owl in Canada are: • In the short term: Stabilize or increase the population trend over the 2015-2025 period and maintain the area of occupancy at 1,500,000 km2; and • In the long term: Ensure a positive 10-year population trend starting in 2025, while promoting an increase in the area of occupancy, including the gradual recolonization of areas in the southern portion of the Canadian range. The broad strategies that are required to achieve the management objectives include: • Conservation and management of the species and its suitable habitat across the breeding, migrating and wintering ranges; • Conducting surveys, monitoring and research on the species, its habitats and threats across the breeding, migrating and wintering ranges; and • Promoting awareness and partnerships related to conservation priorities. iv Management Plan for the Short-eared Owl 2016 Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ii Executive Summary ........................................................................................................iv 1. COSEWIC Species Assessment Information ........................................................... 1 2. Species Status Information ...................................................................................... 1 3. Species Information ................................................................................................. 3 3.1. Species Description ........................................................................................... 3 3.2. Population and Distribution ................................................................................ 3 3.3. Needs of the Short-eared Owl ............................................................................ 7 4. Threats ..................................................................................................................... 8 4.1. Threat Assessment ............................................................................................ 8 4.2. Description of Threats ...................................................................................... 11 5. Management Objective .......................................................................................... 14 6. Broad Strategies and Conservation Measures ....................................................... 14 6.1. Actions Already Completed or Currently Underway ......................................... 14 6.2. Broad Strategies .............................................................................................. 18 6.3. Conservation Measures ................................................................................... 19 7. Measuring Progress ............................................................................................... 23 8. References ............................................................................................................