The deeply territorial northern spotted owl has again put the brakes on development, this time in a San Geronimo Valley open space preserve. The Marin Audubon Society filed a lawsuit late last month against the Marin County Open Space District for a road and trail management plan adopted in 2014. The suit seeks to halt the implementation of the section of the plan that would legalize and improve 14,071 feet of previously unsanctioned trails and roads in the Gary Giacomini preserve.
Citing the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s broadest environmental law that protects wildlife populations, the Audubon Society claims the district failed to properly consider the effect new trails—which include two abandoned logging roads and three unsanctioned trails—could have on the owl.
In 2014, the district completed an environmental impact report for the management plan that identified numerous active areas for the owls among the designated trails. Bird surveys conducted by the district found that two of the new trails—the Contour and Candelero Canyon Trails—are situated within a quarter-mile of nesting spotted owls. The only mitigation measure cited in the report allows for construction on the trails to begin after July 31, the end of the owl’s nesting period.
The report also acknowledged the possibility that the improved road and trail system could attract new users, but that “any assumption about the magnitude of this increase would be speculative.”
In the suit, the Audubon Society expressed concerns over the repositioning of the owls due to an increase of people and dogs on trails. “The displacement would likely lead to harm to the displaced owls or to owls in other areas receiving these displaced owls,” it states.
Max Korten, director for Marin County Parks, said protecting biodiversity is extremely important to the department and that a goal of the management plan is to decrease the environmental footprint. He said they’ve been monitoring northern spotted owls for the past decade and added that the birds have been doing “very well.”
The federally protected owl has been listed as a threatened species in California since 1990. Dave Press, a wildlife ecologist for the Point Reyes National Seashore, told the Light in July that “Marin is pretty much the last intact population of spotted owls.”
The Audubon Society had threatened to sue the district last August if the latter refused to halt the management plan for the Giacomini preserve. The two parties entered a tolling agreement, under which both had additional time to determine the legitimacy of the suit’s claims. But that agreement had an expiration date of Oct. 25.
Barbara Salzman, president of the society, said the group wanted to extend the tolling agreement but that the district “refused” to do so. “We’re heading to court unless we can talk something out, and we hope we can do that,” she said. “Our interest is in protecting special-status species and [the district] seems to think they’re not causing any problems without any evidence to support that.”
Mr. Korten said there was an effort to work through the issue but that the Board of Supervisors ultimately chose not to extend the tolling agreement.
“The short answer from us is that we feel like we have a good project,” he said of the management plan. “We’ve been very open to working with and continuing to work with Marin Audubon. It’s important to us that we engage with people to ensure we have good projects.”
Supervisor Steve Kinsey expressed concerns this week about why some sections of trails designated in the management plan had not yet been completed. “This last week I had the opportunity to be in our Giacomini preserve at the western end and see the substantial work that’s been done on the trails there. And done in a way that’s incredibly sensitive to the beautiful surroundings,” he said.
The first court hearing is scheduled for March 14.