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California Burrowing Owl Consortium

Survey Protocol:

Part I - Introduction

California's burrowing owl population is clearly in peril and if declines continue unchecked the species may qualify for listing. Because of the intense pressure for development of open, flat grasslands in California, resource managers frequently face conflicts between owls and development projects. Owls can be affected by disturbance and habitat loss, even though there may be no direct impacts to the birds themselves or their burrows. There is often inadequate information about the presence of owls on a project site until ground disturbance is imminent. When this occurs there is usually insufficient time to evaluate impacts to owls and their habitat. The absence of standardized field survey methods impairs adequate and consistent impact assessment during regulatory review processes, which in turn reduces the possibility of effective mitigation.

These guidelines are intended to provide a decision-making process that should be implemented wherever there is potential for an action or project to adversely affect burrowing owls or the resources that support them. The process begins with a four-step survey protocol to document the presence of burrowing owl habitat, and evaluate burrowing owl use of the project site and a surrounding buffer zone. When surveys confirm occupied habitat, the mitigation measures are followed to minimize impacts to burrowing owls, their burrows and foraging habitat on the site. These guidelines emphasize maintaining burrowing owls and their resources in place rather than minimizing impacts through displacement of owls to an alternate site.

Each project and situation is different and these procedures may not be applicable in some circumstances. Finally, these are not strict rules or requirements that must be applied in all situations. They are guidelines to consider when evaluating burrowing owls and their habitat, and they suggest options for burrowing owl conservation when land use decisions are made.

• Section 1: describes the four phase Burrowing Owl Survey Protocol.
• Section 2: contains the Mitigation Guidelines.
• Section 3: contains a discussion of various laws and regulations that protect burrowing owls and a list of references cited in the text.

We have submitted these documents to the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) for review and comment. These are untested procedures and we ask for your comments on improving their usefulness.