U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service June 14, 2016 Biological Opinion ON Revised Land and Resource Management Plan Amendment to increase Florida Scrub- Jay Management Areas on the Ocala National Forest (Amendment 12) Prepared by: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Jacksonville, Florida Biological Opinion U.S. Forest Service Southern Region FWS Log No. 04EF1000-2016-F-0215 2 The Service concurs with your determination that the effects from activities under the proposed amendment on the Florida bonamia, scrub buckwheat, and Lewton’s polygala are within the scope of effects described in the September 18, 1998 BA for the LRMP and evaluated in the Service’s 1998 Opinion. In addition, effects of implementing the LRMP (including the proposed amendment) on the scrub pigeon wings were recently disclosed in your Biological Assessment (BA) of Nov 24, 2015 were evaluated in the Service’s Opinion of December 17, 2015. Therefore, these plant species will not be addressed further in the amended Opinion below. This amended Opinion is based on information provided to the Service through a BA, telephone conversations, e-mails, field investigation notes, and other sources of information. A complete administrative record of this consultation is on file at the Jacksonville Ecological Services Office. Consultation History September 21, 1998: NFF initiated formal consultation on revision of the LRMP December 18, 1998: The Service provided a non-jeopardy combined Biological and Conference Opinion on the LRMP to NFF concluding formal consultation. From March 2014 to November of 2015, the Service and staff from the NFF supervisor’s office and ONF participated in several meetings and conference calls to discuss how to address Forest Service Section 7(a)(1) obligations under the Act and the proposed amendment to the NFF LRMP. November 06, 2015: NFF provided, via email, the Service (and other “interested parties”) a “scoping letter” requesting comment on the proposal to amend the NFF LRMP to reassign approximately 50,000 acres of land designated as Management area (MA) 8.2 (sand pine timber management) to MA 8.4 (Florida scrub-jay management) and revise the desired conditions for MA 8.4. December 4, 2015: the Service provided NFF a letter of support for the proposed amendment March 1, 2016: NFF provided the Service a first draft BA on the proposed amendment March 8, 2016: During a conference call, the Service provided comments on the first draft BA to NFF. March 17, 2016: NFF provided to the Service a revised draft BA as well as a “Florida scrub-jay Analysis” document in response to discussions and the Services comments during the March 8 conference call. March 29, 2016: NFF and the Service met in Tallahassee to discuss the revised draft BA. The Service indicated that information in the BA was complete with the exception of final maps of Biological Opinion U.S. Forest Service Southern Region FWS Log No. 04EF1000-2016-F-0215 3 the proposed Management Area 8.4. With the addition of the maps, the document could be finalized to initiate formal consultation. May 16, 2016: Based on the draft BA, the Service provided a draft Opinion to Regional Forester’s staff, NFF staff, and ONF staff. May 17, 2016: The Service received a letter from the Regional Forester requesting initiation of formal consultation on the amendment to the LRMP. June 6, 2016: The Service received final comments on the draft Opinion from the Forest Service. June 14, 2016 The Service provided a final signed Opinion to the Regional Forester BIOLOGICAL OPINION (Amendment) DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION NFF proposes to amend their LRMP by increasing the acreage of Management Area (MA) 8.4 on the ONF from 2,874 acres to 54,724 acres and make changes related to scrub management. The increase in the size of MA 8.4 would be the result of re-designating 51,850 acres on the ONF from Management Area 8.2 (Sand Pine, Mixed Regeneration, Moderate Openings) to Management Area 8.4 (Scrub-Jay Management. The current condition of the 51,850 acres proposed for designation as MA 8.4, is primarily oak or pine scrub (44,706ac) with the remaining acres consisting of scattered prairies, wetlands, hardwood areas and pine flatwoods. The “on the ground management actions (i.e.; prescribed burning, roller chopping, and sand pine harvest) associated with this amendment were previously proposed in the LRMP and were analyzed in the Services December 18, 1998 Opinion on the LRMP. However, as described below, the proposed actions exceed the scope of what was previously analyzed. A summary of proposed actions relevant to this analysis is provided in the “Action Defined” section below. Action Area Defined For the purposes of this Amendment, the Action Area consists of the 44, 760 acres of the Florida scrub and potential scrub vegetative communities within the current and proposed 8.4 MA on the ONF. A map of the 8.4 MA is shown in Appendix 1. Action Defined The proposed Amendment to the 1999 LRMP has three components: 1) Addition of new scrub-jay Management Areas: Redesignate 51,850 acres from MA 8.2 (Sand Pine, Mixed Regeneration, Moderate Openings) into MA 8.4 (Scrub-Jay Management Area). Of this area 44,706 acres is scrub habitat, 2) Revise the Desired Future Condition of MA 8.4 and the related Standard & Guideline 8.4-4 and, Biological Opinion U.S. Forest Service Southern Region FWS Log No. 04EF1000-2016-F-0215 4 3) Add a newly discovered species, scrub pigeon wing, to the list of federally listed plants that occur on the ONF as discussed in the LRMP, and describe appropriate management considerations. These elements of the proposed amendment are described below, with particular emphasis on how actions under the amendment would differ from actions under the current Forest Plan direction. 1). Addition of new Scrub-Jay Management Areas NFF, is proposing to amend the 1999 LRMP by “re-designating” 51,850 acres of scrub habitat on the ONF from MA 8.2 (Sand Pine, Mixed Regeneration, Moderate Openings) to MA 8.4 (Scrub-Jay Management Area). Eleven new scrub-jay MAs would be established and two existing scrub-jay MAs would be expanded. Fifty-one compartments in all three counties within the ONF boundaries would be affected by the proposed change. The proposed change in MA designation would shift the primary management objective in these areas from producing sand pine to generating and maintaining conditions suitable for Florida scrub-jays and a suite of other animal and plant species with similar habitat requirements Implementation of land management activities on the proposed new MA 8.4 would be contingent on adequate funding for increasing sand pine harvest as well as prescribed burning and mechanical treatments associated with continued maintenance after the final timber harvests have been completed. Therefore, the areas would be converted to native, naturally occurring early seral stage scrub vegetative communities, upon which the Florida scrub-jay depends, over the next 20-30 years. Management within MA Area 8.2 would continue as described in the LRMP, focusing on production of merchantable sand pine. However, areas within MA 8.2 would still serve as habitat for scrub-jays as they have in the past, and planning of timber harvests and other relevant projects would still take scrub-jay habitat dynamics into consideration as well as the ecological needs of other scrub plant and animal species. The following land management activities occur within Management Area 8.4: Removal of sand pine would occur to remove the overstory and set back succession. Sand pines of any age may be removed through commercial harvest or non-commercial methods such as roller-chopping or prescribed fire. Typical commercial timber harvest may be suitable for stands approximately 25 years old or older, whereas other methods to remove sand pine may be suitable in younger or less dense stands. Mature sand pine stands in MA 8.4 would be clearcut using a feller-buncher, skidder, and loader but would not be reseeded. Harvested stands may be roller-chopped and/or burned after harvest. Five hundred to 2,000 acres of sand pine would be removed per year collectively from the proposed new MAs. Final harvests of sand pine would progress on portions of different MAs over time and would be phased over multiple future projects. Although sand pine harvest may be accelerated if the proposed amendment is approved, it is likely that the total area in which sand pine is harvested will be within the range of 3,900-4,100 acres described in the LRMP and consulted upon in the LRMP BA. Biological Opinion U.S. Forest Service Southern Region FWS Log No. 04EF1000-2016-F-0215 5 Roller-chopping would prepare scrub habitat for prescribed burning operations by decreasing vegetation height and breaking apart vegetation to distribute and cure fuels. This activity uses large drums with blades that are spaced 12-18 inches apart. The blades sink 8-10 inches into the soil and typically disturb 90% of vegetation less than 6 inches in diameter. A roller-chopping layout that leaves intermittent areas of undisturbed vegetation (i.e., a “sloppy chop”) is encouraged to promote small-scale habitat variability. Roller-chopping would occur as a method of preparation prior to prescribed burning under two different conditions: 1) Post-harvest chopping would occur within a short period (typically 3-6 months) after a final sand pine harvest. A roller-chopper would run over the recently logged site to reduce the size of logging slash and coarse woody debris. This increases the exposed surface area of post-logging slash, allowing for quicker curing and greater consumption during the subsequent prescribed burn.