Characterizing Spotted Owl Habitat with LiDAR

Jonathan Kane, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

We used LiDAR in four California national forests with Spotted Owl habitat studies to characterize the forests in Owl territories and contrast them with the overall landscape. We found that the owls select for high density of tall trees near their nest, and high cover and tall trees in their core area, but do not seem to select for forest structure in the rest of their territory.