|
 ForestNorth America’s Forests: Page 11 The Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) is also dependent on old-growth forests and has been seriously impacted by the logging that, since the 19th century, has destroyed 95 percent of its old-growth habitat in the US Pacific Northwest. This small, black-and-white seabird is a Threatened species on the US Endangered Species Act and is listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife International. Unlike any other seabird, this Murrelet nests high in the branches of 200- and 300‑foot trees. Sometimes seen in offshore waters of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, their nests are rarely found. In fact, only about 30 nests have ever been located in the Pacific Northwest--all high in the crowns of old-growth forest trees.
A researcher who was studying the ecology of old-growth tree canopies made an exciting discovery of a Marbled Murrelet nest. He photographed the adult on its nest, made of lichens, with a small fish in its mouth for its chick for National Geographic magazine (Moffett 1997). Despite surveys up and down the Pacific coast, this was one of the few nests found in 1996, and plans for logging near the nest site were stopped (Moffett 1997). A prime area for Marbled Murrelets is the Olympic National Forest in Washington state where large tracts were sold for clearcutting in 1996 under the Timber Salvage Act. In Umpqua National Forest, Oregon, over the weekend of March 23-24, 1996, several thousand-year-old Douglas Firs were cut; their age was determined by coring and ring counts. The Umpqua River has endangered populations of Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and sea-run Cutthroat Trout, and logging may eliminate them. The Marbled Murrelet's nesting trees are being logged throughout the species' range. A few areas have been protected in Alaska, but they are declining rapidly, at a rate of 31 to 48 percent per decade, with little hope that sizeable areas of old-growth forest will be protected (BI 2000).
|
|
