Look for complete geospatial metadata in this layer's associated xml document available from the download link * Metric Name: California Spotted Owl Suitable Habitat * Tier: 1 * Data Vintage: 04/2023 * Unit Of Measure: Categorical - classified into one of the following habitat suitability categories: Value Desc_ 0 Not suitable 1 Moderate foraging (Suitable vegetation types with 4M or 4D size/density and 5M and 5D classes) 11 Moderate reproduction and foraging (Suitable vegetation types with 5M or 5D size/density classes) 21 Moderate reproduction, High foraging (Suitable vegetation types with 5M and 5D classes) 22 High reproduction and foraging (Suitable vegetation types with 5M or 5D size/density classes) For the specific combinations of vegetation types, size classes, and canopy cover classes that result in a low, moderate, or high habitat suitability rating, please refer to the CWHR tables [here](https://apps.wildlife.ca.gov/cwhr/index.shtml) and select: > 'Species' tab -> select species by name -> under select species details: Reports -> check 'Habitats'. This process will create a full list of all suitable combinations for that species. * Metric Definition and Relevance: California spotted owl is continuously distributed on the western slope of the Sierra and inhabits elevations ranging from roughly 1,000 to over 7,000 feet. It is a Region 5 Forest Service “Sensitive Species” and a “Management Indicator Species” (representing late seral closed canopy coniferous forest). This subspecies is found primarily in the Sierra Nevada Region but is also found in the Southern and Central California Regions. In February of 2023 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposal to list two distinct population segments (DPSs) of the California spotted owl ( _Strix occidentalis occidentalis_ ) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). That proposal is still pending. Although the species is declining throughout much of its range and faces continued threats due to wildfire, habitat loss, and competition from barred owls, the USFWS determined that existing regulatory mechanisms are sufficient (USDI Fish and Wildlife Service 2019). This species is also recognized as a California “Species of Special Concern and a Species of Greatest Conservation Need.” A conservation assessment for California spotted owl was conducted in 2017 (Gutiérrez, Manley, and Stine 2017). This was followed by the development of a conservation strategy to guide habitat management on National Forest System Lands (USDA Forest Service 2019). The conservation strategy for the California spotted owl in the Sierra Nevada aims to balance the need to conserve essential habitat elements around sites occupied by California spotted owls, while simultaneously restoring resilient forest conditions at the landscape scale (USDA Forest Service 2019). The USDA Forest Service designates a 300-acre protected activity center (PAC) around each known nesting (reproduction) area or activity center. PACs are a USFS land allocation designed to protect and maintain high-quality California spotted owl nesting and roosting habitat around active sites. Territorial owls typically defend a geographic area consistently used for nesting, roosting, and foraging, containing essential habitat for survival and reproduction. The USDA Forest Service calls for an area of 1,000 acres in the central Sierra Nevada around core use areas, including the associated protected activity center, with a minimum of 400 acres of suitable habitat. * Creation Method: CWHR classifications are based on a combination of FVEG 2023 for canopy cover, size class and vegetation type. The vegetation data includes a variety of tree, shrub, grassland, and water dominated habitats. Species are considered present, and habitats considered suitable for each 30m cell for which the canopy cover-size-vegetation combination have been deemed suitable for the reproduction or foraging of that species in the California Wildlife Habitat Relationship database. Habitat which meets the following criteria is considered suitable: * Suitable vegetation types: WHRTYPE = PPN, SMC, RFR, DFR, MHC, MHW, SMC, WFR, RDW, KMC MRI and BOP * Suitable foraging habitat: size/density classes = 4M, 4D * Suitable nesting (reproduction) habitat: size/density classes = 5M, 5D, 6 CWHR high and moderate suitability values have been used to create separate data layers which identify suitable nesting (reproduction) and suitable foraging habitat. These data have been combined to create the identified “suitable habitat” layers. The combined suitable habitat layer has been further refined and clipped to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species range extent. * Credits: * FVEG 2023 * California Department of Fish and Wildlife CWHR version 9.0 (CDFW); 2014