The following guidelines are derived from California Spotted Owl Sierran Province Interim Guidelines Environmental Assessment, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, November 1993 [hereafter referred to as the CASPO report]. The entire area affected by the HF QLG pilot project area falls within the CASPO analysis area.

The HF QLG Forest Recovery Act specifically states in section (c), subsection (3):

The following guidelines can be found on pages III-2 to III-6 of the Environmental Assessment. These guidelines cover the Eldorado, Lassen, Plumas, Sequoia, Sierra, Stanislaus and Tahoe National Forests:

• Maintain the base habitat contained within the SOHAs in accordance with the Forest Land Management Plans. If a SOHA, or portion thereof, is rendered unsuitable by a catastrophic event such as wildfire, remaining suitable owl habitat within the SOHA shall be maintained as base habitat. However, there is no requirement that these SOHAs either be replaced or that additional habitat be added to the SOHAs.

• Establish a 300-acre Protected Activity Center (PAC) around all currentlyknown spotted owl sites in the owl range. Within these PACs, no stand altering activities will generally be allowed to occur except for some light fuels management activities. The CASPO report stated that spotted owls are still widely and fairly distributed throughout conifer forests of the western Sierra Nevada. Therefore, establishment of PACs on known owl sites is sufficient to maintain options for a longer-term strategy.

 
• Within strata preferentially selected for nesting owls (selected strata) which are outside of PACs, one commercial entry is allowed during the interim period, no removal of live trees 30 inches in diameter breast height (dbh) or larger is allowed and retention of 40 percent of the basal area and canopy closure is maintained in the largest trees available.

 
• Within strata utilized, but not preferred for nesting by owls (other strata), one commercial entry is allowed during the interim period, no removal of live trees 30 inches dbh or larger is allowed and retention of 30 percent of the basal area (at least 50 square feet of basal area per acre) is retained in the largest trees available.

 
• In both the selected and other strata, the largest 4-8 snags (dead and/or trees expected to die within six months) per acre are maintained (may be averaged over the harvest unit). The number of snags to be left is dependent on the diameter of snags available for retention. In addition, fuel treatments to remove surface and ladder fuels and protect owl habitat is encouraged and an average of at least 10-15 dry tons per acre of dead and down material is retained.

 
• Adaptive management is allowed in two situations: (1) When a project-specific biological evaluation demonstates that the objectives of the CASPO recommendations may be better achieved through an alternative perscription, and (2) when projects are designed as administrative studies and coordinated with the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station (PSW), or with an oversight team established for this purpose. On each National Forest, administrative studies are limited to no more than two percent of the lands identified as "suitable for timber production" in the Forest Land Management Plans.

For the Inyo and Modoc National Forests and for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit LTBMU:

• The Modoc and Inyo National Forests, and the LTBMU contribute less than one percent of the known owl sites on National Forest land in the Sierran province. Owls surveys are required only within suitable owl habitat. If owls are detected, their habitat will be managed in accordance with the Modified Cumulative Effects Analysis (CEA) process described in Alternative 3.

• Pure eastside pine habitat is not considered to be suitable and is not analyzed in detail in the EA. However, there is a small subset of suitable habitat within the eastside pine type (primarily fairly well-stocked pine stands with a white fir understory). When a project is proposed within this suitable area, the area will be surveyed for owls. Where owls are detected, the area will be managed using the Modified CEA process.