What do coho salmon, northern spotted owls and marbled murrelets have in common? All three are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. They also all are the focus of a 50-year habitat conservation plan for the Elliott State Forest.

The 93,000-acre forest is located in Coos and Douglas counties.

On Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and Oregon’s Department of Forestry released a draft environmental impact statement analyzing the plan and its options.

The study revises the forest’s 1995 habitat conservation plan. It acknowledges there are times when forest management and timber harvest are likely to disturb or harm protected forest species. For that, the state has to get a permit.

As part of the whole process, the public gets to comment on the scientific reports.

The three documents address northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets and Oregon Coast coho salmon, as well as 15 species which are not listed on the ESA.

 “Habitat conservation planning is an important part of our collaborative stewardship approach to recovering listed species,” said Ren Lohoefener, director of the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The conservation plan is a necessary component of the state’s application for the federal incidental-take permit. “Take” is the legal term for disturbing, harming or killing individuals of a protected species. It would be allowed only during legal activities such as those associated with mechanized timber harvest, fire suppression, aquatic habitat restoration and other management practices.

The proposed plan suggests ways to mitigate and minimize potential adverse effects.

Both the existing and the proposed plans include conservation areas for spotted owls and marbled murrelets where little or no harvest would occur. Both plans also include specific harvest prescriptions for riparian areas.

The 90-day comment period for draft plan, the permit application and the draft environmental impact ends Nov. 20.

The original incidental take permit for the Elliott State Forest, issued in 1995, involved take of northern spotted owls for a period of 60 years, and take of marbled murrelets for six years. The revised plan addresses the issue of take for both species for the next 50 years, and will extend coverage to the Oregon Coast coho salmon, which became a listed species after the original habitat conservation plan was established. Under the proposed revision, new forest management activities will be based on forest structure, rather than the age-based, harvest rotation strategies employed in the past.

The take application also addresses the potential for harm to 15 species not currently listed, and would apply if any of these species become listed during the 50-year duration of the plan. Those species are: bald eagle, northern goshawk, olive-sided flycatcher, western bluebird, Chinook salmon, chum salmon, steelhead, coastal cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, river lamprey, western brook lamprey, fisher, red-legged frog, southern torrent salamander and tailed frog.