As if the stars were completely aligned and the universe in perfect harmony, a single email to the city yielded a response in less than 2 hours.  And contained within that message were the relocation plan documents I had been waiting for since the onset of my quest to ensure protection for what I now call ‘my’ burrowing owls.  But perhaps I am being too hasty and setting the wrong tone for this post and/or update.  Clearly from the title I have unsuccessfully managed to hide my bias in regards to this situation.

So if you don’t mind I’ll reset the style as the universe simply cannot be in harmony when California Department of Fish & Game approved mitigation methods call for the eviction of burrowing owls and the eradication of California ground squirrels.  As a potential candidate for protection under the California Endangered Species Act and holding a designation as a species of special concern, simply evicting the owls and fumigating a neighboring species appears to be a solution that can only be described as out of sight, out of mind.  Because once the owls are forced from their burrows there is no subsequent tracking or following of the displaced residents to ensure a healthy relocation.  Obviously the Western Burrowing Owl is a California Species of Not So Much Concern.

“Following 14 years of unsuccessful efforts by the California Burrowing Owl Consortium to protect rapidly declining populations in urbanizing areas, the Center and allies petitioned in 2003 to protect the California population of the owl under the California Endangered Species Act. The petition showed that breeding owls were eliminated from almost one-quarter of their former range in California, continue to decline in an additional quarter of their range, and are extremely sparsely distributed over an additional 43 percent.”  Center for Biological Diversity

On November 23, 2009 the California Department of Fish & Game provided the developer with written notice that the eviction can proceed.  However, I do not have a date for the commencement of this event as of yet,  but I will definitely increase my monitoring of the site to ensure no harm comes to the owls.  Additionally, this comes on the heels of a constant need for me to make repairs and modifications to the gates to prevent off-roading access (which I now believe is secure).  Plus, the report highlights the fact that prior to my coverage on the owls zero mitigation for this species was in place on the property.  To be honest I have not completely absorbed the ramifications of this newly released information, but undoubtedly my first action is to inform the masses and my burrowing owl friends action network. 

Without further delay, here is a bit of light reading taken from the approved burrowing owl relocation plan as I decide upon a course of action.  And please continue to check this site or email me for the latest details and my next steps.

Installation of One-Way Doors

M&A biologists will install one-way (passive) eviction doors in occupied burrows using hand tools. M&A will set and monitor 20 eviction doors at a time. Eviction doors will be operated for two full days at each occupied burrow. Upon completing the two day eviction process the burrow will be closed manually. Western burrowing owls will be evicted systematically by sections of the project site so that areas can be deemed cleared prior to moving forward with clearing other sections of the site.  All suitable or occupied burrows will be cleared per this plan.  As eviction doors will have to be moved to new burrows that the owls move to, the schedule for eviction could take several weeks or longer.  Upon clearing a contiguous section of the project site, and keeping in mind that California ground squirrel burrows could be interconnected, ground squirrel control measures would be implemented in each cleared section. 

Collapse and Backfill of the Burrows

After any given one-way door has been installed for 48 hours and once it has been determined that the Western burrowing owls have vacated the burrows, and M&A biologist will remove the door and the burrow will be hand collapsed and backfilled.

Maintenance of the Site

After owls are evicted from the site and have been absent for three days, M&A will begin eliminating California ground squirrels from the site. Removal of the California ground squirrels and thus potential for new burrows will remove the catalyst attracting Western burrowing owls….Accordingly, since Western burrowing owls can only be removed in the Fall/Winter/Spring when grasses are green, in lieu of rodenticide baits, fumigants will be used to remove the ground squirrels from the subject property.  Fumigants would only be used after Western burrowing owls have been cleared from the burrow systems within systematically cleared sections of the project site. Rodenticides may be used to further control California ground squirrels after most herbaceous vegetation (especially grasses) has turned brown on the project site.

*Fumigant: method of pest control that completely fills an area with gaseous pesticides to suffocate or poison the pests within (via Wikipedia)

Tags: Burrowing owl mitigation, burrowing owls, Project Burrowing Owl Antioch, Western burrowing owl

This entry was posted by Scott on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Human Threats, Migratory Birds, Owls, Wildlife, Wildlife management, birds, conservation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.