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Layer: Spotted Owl Locations (ID: 4)

View In:   ArcGIS Online Map Viewer

Name: Spotted Owl Locations

Display Field: SNAME

Type: Feature Layer

Geometry Type: esriGeometryPoint

Description: This dataset is a new and improved version of the original Spotted Owl Territories [ds97] dataset. The original dataset represented spotted owl territories as activity center observation points with thousands of additional owl observations available in a separate table but not spatially enabled. In this new dataset, the additional owl observations (both positive and negative sightings) have been spatially enabled as points and are now displayed along with the activity center points. See the attribute "TYPEOBS" for a determination of whether an observation is positive (POS), negative (NEG) or an activity center (AC). Many of the observation locations were approximated by plotting them to a grid of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) based on PLSS references in their record descriptions.This dataset combines information on the location and status of Northern Spotted Owls, California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada, and California Spotted Owls in southern California. Almost all records have been gathered since the early 1970s. Some observations from early 20th century literature also are included. The vast majority of data were collected in the field by biologists and technicians mainly working for US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, consultants, National Park Service, industrial timber companies, universities conducting surveys and doing research, and the local birding community. Most observations were obtained using standard survey protocols ("Protocol for surveying proposed management activities that may impact northern spotted owls." US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2011). The protocols are available at https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Survey-ProtocolsWhat is an activity center? "Activity Center: Spotted owls have been characterized as central-place foragers, where individuals forage over a wide area and subsequently return to a nest or roost location that is often centrally-located within the home range (Rosenberg and McKelvey 1999). Activity centers are location or point within the core use area that represent this central location. Nest sites are typically used to identify activity centers, or in cases where nests have not been identified, breeding season roost sites or areas of concentrated nighttime detections may be used to identify activity centers." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2011. Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. xvi + 258 pp. A copy of the Revised Recovery Plan and other related materials can be found at: https://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/Species/Data/NorthernSpottedOwl/main.asp.The database only maps one activity center per site; however, multiple acitivity centers may exist on the landscape.An additional dataset (Spotted Owl Observations Spider Diagram [ds705]) is available that shows lines representing relationships between activity centers and observations in this dataset. The spider diagram dataset is meant to accompany this observations dataset to assist with site visualizations and dataset review efforts. OTHER THINGS TO KNOW:Data is not deleted if it is determined that a site is unoccupied, abandoned, or invalid. Abandonedand invalid sitesare retained in the database but their status changed to indicate they no longer require protections. Occupancy is an annual status that is not tracked by the database due to variations in data availability and survey effort across the state.Coordinates listed in the dataset use the NAD83 datum.Many site locations in this dataset were approximated using a grid of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS, also known as the Meridian, Township, Range, and Section, or MTRS system). The PLSS grid originated from 1:100,000-scale US Geological Survey topographic maps and also included additional protracted/extrapolated linework within Spanish land grants and other areas not covered by the PLSS process. At the time of data processing, this PLSS grid represents the most complete statewide grid available for California. However, the linework from this grid does not always exactly follow the PLSS linework used on other sources such as 1:24,000-scale US Geological Survey topographic maps, which may have been used for site reporting. New mapping and compilations of PLSS linework are occurring in many areas in California but may not be available statewide. As more improved and complete statewide PLSS data become available, it may be possible to better approximate some site locations in this dataset.This layer was exported in April of 2026 for use by Fehr & Peers for a trails inventory project through TCTC.

Service Item Id: 7133055b508745df8542e66c2b3c5b80

Copyright Text: Observations were compiled by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife from a variety of sources, notably including the private timber companies, US Forest Service, and researchers.

Default Visibility: false

MaxRecordCount: 2000

MaxSelectionCount: 0

Supported Query Formats: JSON, geoJSON, PBF

Min Scale: 0.0

Max Scale: 0.0

Supports Advanced Queries: true

Supports Statistics: true

Can Scale Symbols: false

Use Standardized Queries: true

Supports ValidateSQL: true

Supports Calculate: true

Supports Datum Transformation: true

Extent:
Drawing Info: Advanced Query Capabilities:
HasZ: false

HasM: false

Has Attachments: false

HTML Popup Type: esriServerHTMLPopupTypeAsHTMLText

Type ID Field:

Fields: Templates:
Capabilities: Query,Create,Update,Delete,Uploads,Editing

Sync Can Return Changes: false

Is Data Versioned: false

Supports Rollback On Failure: true

Supports ApplyEdits With Global Ids: false

Supports Query With Historic Moment: false

Supports Coordinates Quantization: true

Child Resources:

Supported Operations:   Query   Query Analytic   Apply Edits   Add Features   Update Features   Delete Features   Calculate   Validate SQL   Generate Renderer   Return Updates   Iteminfo   Thumbnail   Metadata   Update Metadata