Stop evicting Burrowing Owls from their burrows at construction sites

Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) are dependent on underground burrows for survival at all times of the year. These owls use burrows for nesting, roosting, protection from extreme weather, and to evade predators. Yet, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) routinely allows owls to be evicted from their burrows. CDFW calls this practice “passive relocation.” 

When development is planned on land occupied by burrowing owls, CDFW allows developers to hire natural resource consultants to install one-way doors in burrow openings throughout a project site to permanently exclude burrowing owls from their burrows. Owls are evicted from their burrows to avoid trapping and killing them inside their burrows during ground disturbance (bulldozing, discing, etc.). Yet, the owls are extremely vulnerable outside their shelter and even though passive relocation may prevent killing owls during bulldozing, this practice may still result in the death of the owls.

Evictions continue despite CDFW's acknowledgement that owls are likely harmed when they are evicted. CDFW’s 2012 Staff Report on Burrowing Owl Mitigation (https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=83843&inline=true) contains a section titled “Burrow Exclusion and Closure” describing what happens to evicted owls: “Eviction of burrowing owls is a potentially significant impact under CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act)… The long-term demographic consequences of these techniques have not been thoroughly evaluated, and the fate of evicted or excluded burrowing owls has not been systematically studied. Because burrowing owls are dependent on burrows at all times of the year for survival and/or reproduction, evicting them from nesting, roosting, and satellite burrows may lead to indirect impacts or take. Temporary or permanent closure of burrows may result in significant loss of burrows and habitat for reproduction and other life history requirements. Depending on the proximity and availability of alternate habitat, loss of access to burrows will likely result in varying levels of increased stress on burrowing owls and could depress reproduction, increase predation, increase energetic costs, and introduce risks posed by having to find and compete for available burrows.”

What’s more, burrow exclusion and closure violates California Code of Regulations 14 CCR § 251.1 § 251.1 Harassment of Animals. “Except as otherwise authorized in these regulations or in the Fish and Game Code, no person shall harass, herd or drive any game or non-game bird or mammal or furbearing mammal. For the purposes of this section, harass is defined as an intentional act which disrupts an animal's normal behavior patterns, which includes, but is not limited to, breeding, feeding or sheltering.”

In their paper titled Burrowing Owl Status in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (published in the 2003 Proceedings of the California Burrowing Owl Symposium, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277248333_Burrowing_Owl_Status_in_the_Greater_Bay_Area), Susan Townsend and Colleen Lenihan wrote: "When using one-way doors for passive relocation, CDFW recommends that replacement burrows are available on nearby or adjacent lands secured as long-term burrowing owl habitat; however, in practice, replacement burrows are usually not provided. Furthermore, in our experience, post-eviction monitoring (e.g., banding and/or telemetry) to determine the fate of these owls is rarely implemented or required. Displaced birds, unfamiliar with new areas, are less likely to breed (Peltz 2005) and are more susceptible to mortality from predators (Dyer 1987)."

Multiple data sources, including the Institute for Bird Populations 1990- 1993 and 2006-2007 state wide censuses (http://www.birdpop.org/pages/burrowingOwlPop.php) have consistently demonstrated that the burrowing owl population in California continues to decline. It is our opinion that evictions allowed by CDFW have contributed to this decline.

Please help end passive relocations and ask CDFW to promote methods that actually protect the owls. Urge CDFW to examine eviction practices and stop allowing evictions where no nearby alternative burrows are available.