Avoid Foraging Habitat
In suitable foraging habitat in northern spotted owl core areas (a 0.5-mile radius or 500-acre area around an Activity Center) and in suitable foraging habitat in northern spotted owl home ranges (a 1.3-mile radius, including core, or a 3,398-acre area around an Activity Center):
a. Downgrading or removal of suitable foraging habitat function will be avoided.
b. Although habitat elements–such as individual trees, shrubs, down logs, and snags–may be removed from foraging habitat, the treatment must not be so extensive as to downgrade or remove the overall function of the habitat in a northern spotted owl core or home range below the recommended habitat levels for supporting survival, reproduction, and occupancy (USFWS 2011a). In the interior California Klamath and California Cascades Provinces, this level is a combination of 400 acres of suitable NRF habitat in the core. For the home range, the level is 40% suitable NRF (approximately 1,336 acres). In the Redwood zone, the recommended level is 100 acres of suitable NRF habitat in the core and 500 acres of suitable NRF habitat in the home range (FWS 2019a).