California spotted owls have declined in abundance and distribution in recent years

The National Park Service awarded $179,770 under the Cooperative Research and Training Programs – Resources of the National Park System program (CFDA 15.945) to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on July 13, 2022. The award will support resurveying 78 sites in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park to determine impacts of the KNP Complex Fire on California spotted owl occupancy. The University will deploy acoustic recording units at locations surveyed in 2021 to scan for California spotted owls and barred owls across areas impacted by unburned, low, moderate, and high fire severity. Machine learning algorithms will identify target species in the acoustic data with high accuracy. Results will inform potential restoration areas and adjustments to fuel treatment and fire response priorities depending on fire impacts. Fieldwork is expected to be completed by August 30, 2025.

They are listed as a species of special concern by the california department of fish and wildlife. Threats to these owls include loss of habitat, competition with invasive barred owls, and severe wildfire. The purpose of this award is to resurvey existing sites after the KNP complex fire burned through sequoia kings canyon national park to determine if the fire impacted california spotted owls. This information will be used to target potential restoration areas and adjust the importance of pre-fire fuels treatments and post-fire response depending on what is found in terms of impacts of high, moderate, and low severity fire on OWL occupancy. This project will involve deploying acoustic recording units to survey for california spotted OWL and barred owls in seki at the same 78 locations used to survey in 2021 prior to the KNP complex fire. These locations cover a variety of fire intensity, including unburned, low severity, moderate severity, and high severity burns. The acoustic data will be scanned using specialized machine-learning algorithms that identify these target species with high accuracy and precision.