Marbled murrelet
Old-growth forests are critical to the continued existence of this unique coastal forest bird.
Protecting old-growth forest protects more than trees. It protects the wildlife that need this habitat to survive, wildlife like marbled murrelets. This seabird, listed as a threatened species in 1992, counts on coastal old growth for nesting and rearing their young. The murrelet forages in marine waters and near the mouths of rivers.
Its dependence on older forests for reproduction has caused a clash between their survival and the economic interests behind logging these same forests. Today the marbled murrelet population in the Northwest continues to decline 3% per year. Just 21,000 remain in all of Washington, Oregon, and northern California.
What a long strange trip: timeline of murrelet protection
Amazing avian
- The marbled murrelet is a small sea bird with a slender black bill and plumage that varies in color by season.
- Its diet consists of many sea creatures, including sand eels, herring, and shiner perch.
- Unlike most other sea birds, marbled murrelets do not form dense colonies, they are solitary birds.
- Murrelets are known to travel up to 50 miles inland to a nest tree, selecting very old, craggy and mossy topped, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Douglas fir.
Hard times
In the last decade, logging has destroyed more than a quarter million acres of murrelet old growth nesting habitat, 80% of which occurred on private or state land. The murrelet faces other dangers: oil spills pollute the water where murrelets feed, and gill nets from the fishing industry can drown or ensnare birds as by-catch. Rates of predation of murrelets have also increased, a direct result of habitat fragmentation, which allows predators access to areas that were formerly unattainable. For a thriving population of marbled murrelets to survive, an increase in federal protection is needed.
Home, sweet home
The US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006 had proposed a severe cut in protected critical habitat for the murrelet in Washington, Oregon, and California. But most recently, the agency has found that the murrelet and its habitat must be protected.
We will continue to work to protect the old-growth forest the murrelet calls home, and ensure a future for this elusive and beautiful, native seabird.
