Habitat Set Aside Areas Sample Clauses

Habitat Set Aside Areas. The Applicants propose two major SSAs for the term of the SHA on their lands (See Figures 4-1 and 4-2). One reserve (411 acres) occurs along the lower Little White Salmon River with no harvest activity to occur for the term of the SHA. This SSA will benefit owl dispersal in this and supports past efforts to preserve habitat on USFS property immediately to the west in Late Successional Reserve and in the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area. Most of the Little White Salmon set-aside currently consists of older forest stands and will immediately continue to provide benefit to spotted owls contribute to the demographic support goal of the SOSEA. The second set-aside of 240 acres around the one nest site on the Applicants’ lands (site # 753; South Xxxxxx Creek) is designed to provide a sufficient nest core for any future occupancy by spotted owls, and to further their ability to resume use of the site as a nesting territory. This set- aside mirrors and complements nest cores established by WDNR in the HCP on the remainder of the White Salmon SOSEA circles, and links to WDNR habitat immediately adjacent to this core. This set-aside currently consists of approximately 90 acres of older Xxxxxxx-fir forest stands and approximately 150 acres of Oregon white oak forest with large pockets of old Xxxxxxx-fir forest, and will immediately contribute to demographic support by continuing to provide nesting, roosting, and foraging benefits to spotted owls. Nesting habitat is available by virtue of the presence of the older forest stands. Roosting and foraging opportunities for spotted owls are expected to be available in the mixed oak/fir habitat because spotted owls are known to use mixed oak/fir patches in Klickitat County and adjacent Yakima County for both roosting and nighttime foraging (telemetry data: X. Xxxxxxxxx– Yakama Tribe; nighttime responses: X. Xxxxxxx– formerly of NCASI, pers. comm.). Daytime roosting and nighttime foraging is also known to occur in this habitat during the non-breeding season in Oregon (telemetry data: D. Rock – NCASI, pers. comm.). While this habitat may not meet the typical Washington Forest Practices Board definitions of owl habitat, it does meet the definition of habitat by documented use. Given its proximity to the nest, documented use and potential as important foraging habitat for owls, and as productive mast-producing feeding habitat for owl prey species, warranted inclusion of these oak/fir patches as an important part of the reserve f...