USA Bureau of Land Management Western Oregon Plan Revision - Occupied Marbled Murrelet Sites

This dataset maps Late-Successional Reserves (LSR) associated with occupied marbled murrelet sites. The criteria for mapping these areas are identified on pages C-10 of the Northwest Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines( See Supplemental Info). Supplemental direction to the administrative units in BLM IM OR-2003-001 stated that protection will be afforded to all contiguous existing habitat and recruitment habitat (stands that are capable of becoming murrelet habitats within 25 years) for marbled murrelets within a 1/2 mile radius of any site where occupation behavior (e.g., active nest, fecal ring, eggshell fragments, or birds flying low, through, into or out of the forest canopy within or adjacent to a stand) has been verified. Contiguous was defined as all stands of existing habitat and recruitment habitat that are not separated by more than 100 meters at their closest point. Existing and recruitment habitat was defined by the biologists in the respective districts/resource areas. Discernible landscape features such as roads, ridge-tops, streams and, if necessary, contrasting edges created by several stages were used to define the boundaries of the areas. The 1/2 mile radius circle was centered on either the location of the observed occupied behavior or within 1/2 mile of the behavior location, whichever maximized interior old-growth habitat. This version of the theme includes all locations with occupied murrelet behavior as of September 30, 2002. Occupied Marbled Murrelet Sites that included any General Forest Management Areas, Connectivity/Diversity Blocks, and/or Adaptive Management Areas were mapped completely, even if they partially included an area in an LSR, Congressionally Reserved, and/or AMR. Sites which were totally encompassed within Land Unit Allocation (LUA) theme categories Congressional Reserved, LSRs, and/or AMR were not delineated for this theme.