Date:	November 9, 1999
To:	The Honorable Chair and Members Pima County Board of Supervisors	From:	C.H. Huckelberry County Administrator

                          

Re: Pygmy-Owl Update

I. Summary

The pygmy-owl was listed as endangered in 1997, but notice of the potential listing dates back to 1989, when the United States Fish and Wildlife Service included the pygmy-owl as a candidate for listing throughout its range. Despite the long period of advance warning, the study effort by wildlife agencies and other interested parties prior to the listing was minimal. The attached discussion paper entitled Pygmy-Owl Update provides a report on pygmy-owl research and rulings, evaluates whether the efforts of the community are leading to the recovery, downlisting and delisting of the pygmy-owl, and concludes that with the exception of valuable in-kind services of the Arizona Game and Fish Department pygmy-owl biologist, meaningful financial support for research and conservation planning efforts has been limited to federal and County contributions.

The basis for listing the pygmy-owl as endangered is essentially three-fold: a) habitat loss; b) potential vulnerability to extinction due to environmental, demographic and genetic threats; and c) the absence of effective conservation measures. Since the time of listing, it has become evident that development pressures on the northwest side exceed what the Service described in the 1997 Final Rule, the information necessary to understand the needs of the pygmy-owl was not pursued in advance of the listing, and has not received substantial funding beyond the Pima County study effort, and effective long-term conservation measures will be defined through the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. However, until this goal is achieved for the pygmy-owl and each of the 85 imperiled plants and animals that the Plan will protect, federal guidance, federal consultations, and federal rulings will shape many interim land use decisions.

The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, and Pima County's funding of a comprehensive pygmy-owl study series, which has included giving money to the State to conduct studies, have been the most broad based responses by government entities to deal with pygmy-owl and multi-species protection. At least five of the six elements of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan will, when implemented, provide the proactive approach that can head off conflicts between land use plans and species protection. The following summary and the attached report describe past, present and on-going pygmy-owl research efforts and rulings.

Significant progress has been made through survey and telemetry work conducted in the past months. A lasting solution to endangered species listings will occur only when these research efforts are completed and the resulting plans are implemented. This solution will be reached much faster if efforts are focused and there is broad cooperation among all levels of government.

II. Basis for the Listing

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service can determine endangered status under Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act if one of five factors is met. The pygmy-owl was listed as endangered on March 10, 1997 based on three major factors including:

1. Habitat Modification - the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range;

2. Lack of Effective Conservation Programs - the inadequacy of existing conservation and regulatory mechanisms; and

3. Other Factors - including the environmental, demographic and genetic vulnerability of the pygmy-owl to random extinction.

III. Habitat Modification and Lack of Conservation Programs as a Basis for Listing

1. Impact to Corridors and Critical Habitat - In discussing the degree of habitat loss the Service described the growth pressures on the northwest side and stated that it was "aware of five specific housing and development projects operating or in the planning stages that would affect habitat where the majority of the birds in Arizona currently exist." Aerial photos within the report show the urbanization pattern of pygmy-owl habitat around Arthur Pack Park from 1983 to 1999, and maps show the committed and vacant land within the same area. Growth pressures on the northwest side exceed levels cited by the Service at the time of listing.

2. Impact to Riparian Habitat - In addition to the impacts of urbanization in the area of a known owl population, the Final Rule describing the reasons for the listing identifies riparian losses as a major factor leading to the listing of the pygmy-owl and states that "the Federal Clean Water Act contains provisions for regulating impacts to river systems and their tributaries. These mechanisms have been insufficient to prevent major losses of riparian habitat, including habitats occupied by the pygmy-owl." Within the last two weeks, a federal district court enjoined aspects of the Army Corps Nationwide Permit program until a regionally based programmatic impact analysis is performed, and the Army Corps consults with the Service regarding the effect of the Nationwide Permit program. As these steps are taken, individual permits that require the Corps to take a closer look at the impact of proposed projects will be the course available.

3. Addressing the Habitat Modification Issues Under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan - Five of the six elements of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan have the potential to address the habitat modification issues that led to the listing of the pygmy-owl.

• Habitat and Corridors - These elements call for protection of Critical and Sensitive Habitat and Corridors, once such biologically sensitive lands are identified through resource evaluation and actually protected under a conservation program.
  
  
• Riparian Restoration - The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan also includes a Riparian Restoration element that will provide a comprehensive assessment of the decline in water, riparian habitat and riparian dependent wildlife. Within the text of the report, preliminary benchmarks are established to gain a sense of the magnitude of riparian losses. In general, science planning for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan has been underway since the Board ordered the Plan to be developed. Some of the early findings and understandings of the planning process to date indicate that the current resource base is not sufficient to maintain suites of species much less reverse the direction of continued listings under the Endangered Species Act. The pygmy-owl is just one of approximately 85 plants and animals in need of protection in Pima County. It is estimated that 60 to 85 percent of Sonoran Desert wildlife depend on riparian habitat for some part of their life cycle. Riparian habitat itself has been targeted by the Science Team for protection under the Plan.
  
  
• Ranch Conservation plays a role in protecting the habitat of the pygmy-owl. This survey season it was discovered that the Altar Valley ranch community is home to the largest known population of pygmy-owls -- 31 individuals. The Valley provides a potential corridor and a connection to owls that might be protected and recovered on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.
  
  
• Mountain Park expansion under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan also promotes pygmy-owl protection. Pima County would like to see the Tortolita Mountains and the Tortolita Alluvial Fan Ironwood Forest protected, and has filed an Arizona Preserve Initiative application to try to acquire some of this land. This area is currently the home to the second largest known pygmy-owl population.
  

4. Addressing Federal Habitat Issues as Part of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan - As mentioned, the District Court has recently ordered that the Corps must consult with the Service about the effect of the Section 404 Nationwide Permit program on the pygmy-owl and its habitat. What this means for Pima County is that the information gathered during the cumulative impact analysis should correspond with some of the information that is being gathered by the Science Technical Advisory Team for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan as the biological evaluation for Pima County is undertaken. Likewise, the Section 7 consultation ordered by the Court for the federal agency should be parallel to the Section 10 negotiation that Pima County undertakes with the Service to establish the terms of the conservation plan, since both these processes address the effects of urban development on native species and their habitats. As Pima County moves forward with the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, and the federal entities move forward with their assessment of permitting programs on wetlands, a number of deficiencies within and between the programs can be addressed. The varying standards that exist between local and federal entities could be aligned so that the resource is effectively protected and the permit seeker gains assurances. Permitting programs for water and land protection could be streamlined and work in a coordinated fashion. And, the application of standards could be more accurately tailored to conditions within the Pima County environment.

The District Court's scrutiny of federal permitting practices should result in a shared local, state and federal study effort and a more effective and coordinated permit program at the federal and local level when impacts are better understood, and advance planning allows permit seekers to know where biologically sensitive areas are so they can be avoided.

IV. Vulnerability to Environmental, Demographic and Genetic Threats as a Basis for Listing

1. Research initiatives - One of the three major factors underlying the listing is vulnerability to environmental, demographic and genetic threats. Threats include at least the following: low population numbers, isolated and fragmented populations, inbreeding, unknown habitat requirements (water, cover), unknown status of prey availability, unknown status in relation to predators and competitors, and unknown ability to resist pathogens. On March 2, 1999, the Board of Supervisors adopted the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan in concept and funded a series of studies to advance the state of knowledge about the pygmy-owl and begin to address each of these questions through: 1) a broad survey effort; 2) a genetics investigation; and 3) telemetry and habitat assessments. The timeline for these efforts follows.

• March 1999: Genetics study funded by Pima County begins.
  
  
• April 1999: Survey effort funded by Pima County begins.
  
  
• May 1999: Telemetry and habitat assessment funded by Pima County begins.
  
  
• October 1999: Survey results reported to Pima County (results within this text).
  
  
• February 15, 2000: Report on telemetry and habitat assessment due to Pima County.
  
  
• March 2000: Final report, genetics study due to Pima County.
  

2. The Need for Federal, State and Local Funding - To date, Pima County has made the largest financial commitment among all government entities in an attempt to close the information gap which led to the listing, and it is the only local entity actively funding the comprehensive pygmy-owl study series. An intergovernmental effort would move the comprehensive study series forward at a much faster pace. This has been demonstrated through advances realized in a combined survey effort during 1999. Pima County, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and Arizona Game and Fish coordinated survey efforts and in so doing, covered several times the land base of the previous year's effort, and discovered new populations of owls in the process. In summary, as information is gathered about the number of owls, their location and habitat needs, their tolerance for various land uses, their health, and their prospects for long-term viability and ultimately for recovery, one of the three major factors that led to the listing will be better addressed.

3. 1999 Study Effort - In 1999, a total of five governments funded survey work: United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Game and Fish, and Pima County. Pima County alone, contracting through the Harris and Duncan team, covered 226,068 acres, or 353.2 square miles, which is almost 3 times the call area covered under the 1998 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contract, and it is 5 to 15 times the area covered by the State survey efforts conducted between 1993 and 1996.

The combined intergovernmental effort resulted in the observation of 74 to 78 pygmy-owls in 1999: 41 adults and 33 to 37 offspring:

• 31 owls were found in Altar Valley
  
• 27 owls were found in Northwest Tucson
  
• 12 owls were found in Pinal County
  
• 8 owls were found in Organ Pipe National Monument.
  

In 1999, Pima County also funded some of the telemetry work performed by Arizona Game and Fish through a $60,000 contract. Based on preliminary information:

• 11 nest sites were located and monitored and owls at each site were banded
  
• Nest sizes varied from 2 to 5 babies and at least 16 of 35 fledglings dispersed
  
• At least 13 owls had transmitters placed on them (including 3 adult males)
  
• At least 8 juvenile owls were tracked through dispersal
  
• At least 5 owl mortalities occurred during the survey season
  

4. Harris/Duncan 1999 Survey Report - During the 1999 survey season (from January to July), Pima County undertook the most comprehensive study effort of the decade through a contract awarded to Harris Environmental Group through a competitive proposal process. Covering over one quarter of a million acres, this search for owls exceeded the scope of all combined efforts during the first five years of surveys conducted by the State before the listing of the pygmy-owl. Pima County also obtained site specific results from the survey effort conducted on numerous future bond projects. After determining where surveys were already being conducted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Arizona Game and Fish, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, the remaining study area was divided into 9 survey districts and 2,632 call stations were established, under the Pima County contract. To put this in perspective, in 1998, the same team staked out 768 call points. In 1996, Arizona Game and Fish worked from a total of 356 call points. The 1999 effort allowed research to take place in areas that have not been surveyed in the past.

Agency Call Stations Acres

1996 Arizona Game and Fish surveys 356 14,144
1998 U.S. Fish and Wildlife surveys 768 86,000
1999 Pima County Government surveys 2,632 226,000

At 348 of the 2,632 call stations, there was a "mobbing" response from other birds to the surveyor's tape recorded pygmy-owl calling. Mobbing is a "defensive aggressive response to the broadcast call, such as scolding vocally and/or attacking physically" (i.e. swooping in on the caller). While mobbing can mean many things, it may indicate that "local birds are familiar with pygmy-owls." The report states that: mobbing "behaviors may be evidence that the birds have had experiences with pygmy-owls, either in the area surveyed, or other places (Mexico and Central America) if the birds are migratory." The report recommends that "areas where mobbing occurred be resurveyed in future efforts." Other specific sites are identified for future survey efforts.

5. Ongoing and Future Research

A. Genetics Study - In March of 1999, the County entered into a contract with Mr. Glenn Proudfoot through the University of Texas A&M for studies of DNA sequence data which will address two issues regarding genetic viability of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl populations in Arizona, and the feasibility of reintroduction, and thus serve as a framework for future management efforts: 1) are Arizona pygmy-owls lacking genetic variation relative to healthy populations, and 2) are populations genetically differentiated from each other? Work is ongoing and a final report is due to Pima County by March of 2000.

B. Telemetry and Habitat Analysis - The workplan accepted by the Board includes telemetry studies. Questions that are being addressed include: Where do pygmy-owls go upon dispersal? How far do they travel? Is there exchange with other populations? Are they residents of specific areas, rather than migratory? How tolerant are they of various urban occurrences? How adaptable are they? Habitat assessments are also being conducted to better describe the habitat needs of the pygmy-owl and to move toward the ability to prescribe the habitat where pygmy-owls could breed, nest, feed and rest. Arizona Game and Fish, under a contract with Pima County, will issue a final report to the County by February 15, 2000.

C. Studies in Mexico and Pima County in Fiscal Year 2000 - The Regional Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has funded $120,000 for pygmy-owl studies during the year 2000 survey season. Estimates are that $28,000 of this amount will fund telemetry and habitat work within Pima County and Arizona, while $92,000 will fund studies in Mexico, including surveys, habitat assessment, and assessments of dispersal potential as well as threats and constraints to cooperative management across the border. These studies will continue to build the knowledge base established during the past two survey seasons when owls were located near the international border.

D. Recovery Plan - In the text of the Federal Register Rule, the Service described the compressed time frame they were working under to meet the deadline set by Court order, and explained that the recommendations from the Recovery Team process, now underway, will allow the Service to reevaluate the current designation. Publication of the Recovery Plan by the United States Fish and Wildlife Recovery Team is anticipated in the upcoming months. Recovery Plans typically have a research agenda with a specific budget. Success in funding the research needs identified within the Recovery Plan will lead to a quicker resolution of the dilemmas surrounding this listing.

E. Artificial Nest Box Study - Given the low number of known pygmy-owls, protective management strategies should be invoked to conserve the existing population. Artificial nest structures have been used in Texas with success. Nest box availability for Arizona owls might reduce predation and increase the ability to gather life history data. A proposal will be submitted to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other potential funding sources to begin nest box management strategies in Arizona.

V. Recommendations for Future Action

With the listing of the pygmy-owl as an endangered species in March of 1997 due to: a) habitat loss, b) vulnerability to extinction, and c) absence of conservation, a great deal of scientific study, analysis, and research has been performed, funded primarily by the federal government and Pima County, with the Arizona Game and Fish Department providing significant, in-kind personnel contributions. This increased information as it continues to be completed will form the basis of a rational, organized, and structured response to the listing and hopefully, in future years, lead to de-listing. The greatest promise for this action comes from the eventual development and adoption, by all jurisdictions, of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. The work of the Steering Committee Educational series, also known as "Scientific Boot Camp," will be completed on December 11, 1999, and Plan development can begin in earnest with much of the required background analysis and information gathering completed. I will be providing to the Board, within the next three weeks, a comprehensive update on the progress of formulating the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and each of its six elements.

In the meantime, this update report on the pygmy-owl can be used to organize and structure future actions both of Pima County and other local jurisdictions, as well as federal and state agencies. Of importance will be:

1. Recovery Plan - With release of the draft recovery plan, Pima County, as well as all other local jurisdictions, should carefully review their existing land use codes to determine what interim measures may be necessary to reduce the rate of critical habitat loss now being incurred. The analysis in this report regarding committed and zoned lands in the northwest demonstrates the continuing threat to habitat loss and fragmentation.

2. Riparian Protection - The United States District Court action on cumulative riparian losses underscores the importance of reexamining land use codes and floodplain management regulations that allow incremental impacts and losses to vital and significant riparian habitats. We must review existing codes to determine that the desired level of riparian habitat protection is occurring, and what mitigation strategies should be employed and acted upon if riparian habitat losses are unavoidable based on exercising private property or vested zoning rights of individual land owners.

3. Continue Study Funding - Additional studies related to the pygmy-owl referenced in this report should be funded. These continuing studies will help determine actual vulnerability to extinction. A private/public partnership should be formulated to continue funding of these efforts. In addition, given the vast State Trust land holdings in Pima County and, in particular, within critical and sensitive habitat, the State of Arizona should participate in funding said studies.

4. Mitigation Bank - Clearly, critical habitat losses will be unavoidable due to continuing implementation of public improvements to highways, parks, schools, etc. as well as local government inability to curtail or eliminate some habitat losses because of individuals exercising private property rights or vested zoning in accordance with the laws of various local jurisdictions. In such instances habitat losses can be mitigated through the establishment of a land trust that has as its sole purpose acquisition and protection of critical habitat. A Pima County land trust for this purpose needs to be established.

5. Cooperative Agreements - Based on information now available, as well as interest expressed in development of effective conservation measures by other local jurisdictions and federal agencies, it is now appropriate to develop cooperative agreements that contain substantial commitments of known actions to advance the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.

I will be bringing specific reports on each of these elements to the Board in the next two months that will require Board direction.

Attachment