Abstract
We conducted a 3-summer telemetry study of nesting Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) (N=10) to determine stand structure, landscape patterns, and geographic features that characterize home ranges. We subdivided home range into two phases of the breeding season, the nestling phase and post fledging phase, because home ranges of adult males and females showed significant expansion after the young had fledged. Nearly all birds incorporated areas into their home ranges that were spatially distant from the nest stand, which resulted in higher vegetative diversity within the nestling phase home range than would be expected from random home range placement. Home range locations used by perched goshawks were similar to nest sites, and both had greater canopy cover, greater basal area, and more trees per ha than a random sample from the study area. Thus, perched goshawks tended to be in well­canopied stands with large trees that were in proximity to a variety of vegetation types and seral stages. Nest sites were significantly closer to water sources than random study area points, and home range configurations were influenced by the location of water. Goshawk management strategies should include the potential home range as well as the nest site. Our data suggest that a goshawk can incorporate vegetation types and water sources as far as 3.5 km from the nest stand into its home range. Within this potential use area, emphasis should be placed on creating or maintaining vegetative diversity. Mature forests should be retained around water sources, along forest-open edges, and throughout the potential foraging area.

Management Implications (pg. 72)
During the nestling phase, goshawks expanded their foraging areas and incorporated a variety of vegetation types and patterns that were generally uncommon, such as riparian vegetation, wet meadows, and old growth stands adjacent to meadows. Goshawk home ranges in this study area were influenced by the location of permanent springs and small streams. The value of water for goshawks is mixed within the literature. Speiser and Bosakowski (1987) found no significant difference in the proximity of water to goshawk nests and random plots. Crocker-Bedford and Chaney (1988) reported only 8 out of 43 nests were <1 km from water. Other studies have reported distances of <275m (Shuster 1980), <600 m (Reynolds et. al. 1982), and <1km (Kennedy 1988).
In areas where permanent streams and springs are uncommon, the nearest available well-canopied water sources should be viewed as potentially within the range of active nests that are not near water. This study indicated that goshawks would incorporate water sources as far as 3.5 km into their home ranges.
Goshawks in eastern California were found nesting in areas with much less mean canopy cover than in other studies. Mean canopy cover was estimated to be 29% as compared to 88%, 81%, 79%, 63% and 60% in northern California (Hall 1984), northern Arizona (Crocker-Bedford and Chaney 1988), northwestern Utah (Hennesey 1978), and eastern Oregon (Reynolds et. al. 1982), respectively.
The authors of this study recommend that timber harvest be designed to create a juxtaposition of seral stages, including mature forests, rather than leaving large tracts of homogeneous, mid-seral stage stands. Other considerations should include retaining mature timber around permanent water sources and along forest-open edges.