Marbled Murrelet Landscape Management Plan for Zone 6

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Marbled Murrelet Landscape Management Plan for Zone 6 Marbled Murrelet Landscape Management Plan for Zone 6 Editors Portia Halbert is a Senior Environmental Scientist with California State Parks in the Santa Cruz District at 303 Big Trees Park Rd. Felton CA 95018 Steven W. Singer of Singer Environmental is a consulting forest biologist working in the Santa Cruz Mountains California Department of Parks and Recreation Santa Cruz District 303 Big Trees Park Rd. Felton CA 95018 May 2017 PREFACE It has been recognized by those working to protect the marbled murrelet in the Santa Cruz Mountains that a management plan specific to this region is essential for the long term protection of this species. California State Parks has spearheaded the coordination of a plan with other state and federal agencies, non-profits, and interested parties. This plan is written with the goal of assisting in the conservation and enhancement of the marbled murrelet population in Zone 6 for, as the Recovery Plan states, “Zone 6 is expected to contribute to recovery and is essential to the species in the short term (50–100 years).” This management plan will be expanded in the near future to include information that was solicited by the editor but not received in time to include. Chapters still under preparation and scheduled to be included in the next edition are: ● Forest Management of Second-growth Stands ● Implications of Climate Change for Murrelets in Zone 6 ● Habitat Suitability Assessment in Zone 6 At that time, additions and simple enhancements to the existing chapters will also be made to make the plan more up to date. Marbled Murrelet Management Plan for Zone 6, May 31, 2017 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Plan has been helped by several people who provided review, insight and guidance along the way. We would like to acknowledge Martin Raphael, Zach Peery, Randi Adair, Julie Coombes, Laird Henkel, Tim Hyland, Robynn Swan, and for GIS assistance, Bill Maslach. We also thank Esther Burkett and Lena Chang who helped secure funding for this undertaking. Special thanks to Anne Strasser who formatted the document and did the final editing. Marbled Murrelet Management Plan for Zone 6, May 31, 2017 iii Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ v Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Conservation Status ................................................................................................................................ 1 Available Nesting Habitat ........................................................................................................................ 1 Population Ecology and Demographics ................................................................................................... 2 Life History and Distribution ................................................................................................................... 2 Conservation Efforts ............................................................................................................................... 3 Key Uncertainties .................................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2 Murrelet Inland Distribution And Detection Numbers in Zone 6 ............................................... 4 Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Relationship of the Santa Cruz Marbled Murrelet Landscape Management Plan to Previous Work of a Similar Nature ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Potential Breeding Range of the Marbled Murrelet ............................................................................... 6 Nesting Habitat Defined .......................................................................................................................... 7 Platform Scale: .................................................................................................................................... 7 Tree scale: ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Stand scale: ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods for Monitoring Inland Habitat Use by Murrelets ................................................................... 10 A-V Surveys ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Radar Surveys ................................................................................................................................... 10 Radio Telemetry Tracking ................................................................................................................. 11 ARU Monitoring ................................................................................................................................ 12 Locations with Confirmed Nesting and Fate of Nests ........................................................................... 13 Nesting Chronology in Zone 6 ............................................................................................................... 15 Results from Long-term Monitoring at Inland Sites .............................................................................. 16 A-V Surveys ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Radar Surveys ................................................................................................................................... 21 Distribution of Suitable Nesting Stands by Watershed ......................................................................... 25 Marbled Murrelet Management Plan for Zone 6, May 31, 2017 v Table of Contents Grouping Stands into Landscape Units for Conservation Management ............................................... 27 Selecting and Evaluating Important Murrelet Areas ......................................................................... 27 Threats to Murrelets and Their Nesting Habitat ................................................................................... 30 Data Gaps and Information Needs ........................................................................................................ 30 High Priority Information Needs: ...................................................................................................... 30 Other Information Needs: ................................................................................................................. 31 Management Plan Recommendations .................................................................................................. 32 Recommendations To Protect or Expand Nesting Habitat ................................................................ 32 Recommendations to Monitor Inland Distribution and Use by Breeding Murrelets ......................... 32 Recommendations to Better Understand the Quality of Murrelet Nesting Habitat ......................... 33 Recommendations to Better Share and Archive Zone 6 Murrelet Research and Monitoring Data ... 33 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ 33 Tables .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 3 Corvid Predation of Murrelet Nests in Zone 6 .......................................................................... 68 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 68 Background Information ....................................................................................................................... 68 Management of Crows and Ravens to Reduce the Risk of Nest Predation on Marbled Murrelets in the Santa Cruz Mountains ........................................................................................................................... 71 Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 71 The Common Raven and the American crow ........................................................................................ 73 Species Descriptions and Overview .................................................................................................. 73 Raven and Crow Population Trends in the Santa Cruz Mountains .................................................... 73 Diet and Foraging Behavior ..............................................................................................................
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