July 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Spotlight

Protecting threatened owls: This job’s a hoot

The Mexican spotted owl, which has been listed as “threatened,” likes remote, quiet canyons like those found around the Lab. Photo by Dave Keller

It must be a strange sight: Dave Keller of Ecology and Air Quality (ENV-EAQ) under a night sky, tromping through the rocky canyons around the Laboratory, while a recording of owl hoots plays on a loudspeaker.

When he gets an answer from a real owl, things start to get interesting.

“We used tape players until a few years ago,” Keller said. “But now we use a wildlife electronic caller to play the call. We go through each of the Lab’s canyons with owl habitat and play the call and listen for 15 minutes every half-mile.”

The Mexican spotted owl has been listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act since 1993. The Laboratory takes special measures to protect the owls and track their progress, closing off access or limiting work in owl habitat during nesting season.

Ecology and Air Quality has found that the owls like remote, quiet canyons that do not have roads running through them.

“It is interesting that the owls are out in our areas of explosive testing,” said Keller. “The buffer areas mean that many of these sites are wildlife friendly and are left relatively undisturbed."

This year, Keller and his cohorts have discovered two breeding pairs of owls. During the summer, Keller will do the critical search for any chicks. Typically, the owls have one to three chicks and come back to the same nesting areas year after year.

“They’re very faithful to their nesting sites,“ said Leslie Hansen of ENV-EAQ, who works with Keller. “Everybody’s jealous about my job. It feels really great to do something good for the Lab, but I’m also helping the wildlife and being a better citizen.”

Keller agrees, despite his nocturnal work hours—he searches for owls only between dusk and dawn.

“Yesterday while we were out looking for the owls, we saw a black bear, and he ran alongside the car,” Keller said. “Just seeing the wildlife around the Lab reminds me of what a unique and fascinating place the Lab is.”

--Fred deSousa

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• Lab employees restore and protect local watersheds
• Creating cleaner power
• A passion for the environment sparks a LANL Star
• Explosives school helps soldiers overseas
• New recycling and composting program helps reduce green waste
• My View: Leading the way in environmental management (Michael Graham)
• Kudos
• Notebook
• Our Goals: NNSA Pollution Prevention Award for alternative lighting
• Spotlight: Protecting threatened owls: This job’s a hoot