Protection of the California spotted on national forest lands in the Sierra Nevada has been a major wildlife and forest management issue since the early 1990s. Concern over the adequacy of protection of the northern spotted owl on National Forest lands in the Pacific Northwest during the late 1980s brought attention on protection of a related subspecies, the California spotted owl. State and federal collaborative science and policy efforts resulted in major reports on both topics:
The collaborative efforts gave way when the Forest Service issued interim national forest management guidelines in early 1993. This was followed by a Forest Service effort to develop amendments to forest plans for the 10 Sierran national forests in the form of a draft plan and environmental impact statement (DEIS):
California spotted owl fire environment - maps
The Forest Service subsequently prepared a revised draft plan and DEIS that was withdrawn immediately prior to its planned release in 1996. The US Department of Agriculture commissioned a review of the scientific adequacy of the withdrawn revised DEIS. This review found several major inadequacies:
In Summer 1998 the Forest Service launched a new comprehensive collaborative effort to address forest management issues in the Sierra Nevada:
The State of California and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection continue to track this effort.