FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Fwd: [TN-Bird] Bush administration moves to end protection for Marbled Murrelet

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Subject: [TN-Bird] Bush administration moves to end protection for Marbled 
Murrelet
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 12:41:29 -0500
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Thread-Topic: Bush administration moves to end protection for Marbled Murrelet
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From: "Mann, Jon" <JMann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Sad news for an endangered population - but hey, there are still plenty in C=
anada, right?
Going against a recommendation from its own scientists, the Bush administrat=
ion took another step toward removing the marbled murrelet from the threaten=
ed species list, which could ultimately increase logging in old growth fores=
ts.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided Wednesday that marbled murrelets=20=
in Washington, Oregon and California, though they continue to decline in pop=
ulation, should not be considered for protection apart from their more abund=
ant cousins in Canada and Alaska.=20
The marbled murrelet is a robin-sized seabird that spends most of its life a=
t sea, but flies as much as 50 miles inland to lay a single egg in a mossy d=
epression on a large branch of an old-growth conifer. The habitat needs of t=
he murrelet, combined with the northern spotted owl and salmon, resulted in=20=
sharp declines in Northwest logging in the past 10 years, particularly on na=
tional forests that provide 90 percent of the murrelet's habitat.
   =20
Endangered Species Act protection remains in place for the bird on the West=20=
Coast, but Fish and Wildlife will review its status across its entire range=20=
in the lower 48, British Columbia and Alaska -- a process that could take a=20=
year. Depending on what the review finds, Fish and Wildlife could recommend=20=
the murrelet be taken off the threatened species list, a process that would=20=
take another year.

The decision came from the office of Assistant Secretary of Interior Craig M=
anson, the Bush administration's point man on the Endangered Species Act. It=
 went against the recommendation from the Northwest regional office of Fish=20=
and Wildlife in Portland, which felt the birds in Washington, Oregon and Nor=
thern California constitute a distinct population worthy of protection.

The action was prompted by a lawsuit brought by the timber industry demandin=
g a review of the threatened species listings for the marbled murrelet and t=
he northern spotted owl, which prompted sharp cutbacks in logging to protect=
 their old growth forest habitats.

"The real question from our perspective is a status review now needs to look=
 at not only the California, Oregon, and Washington population, but the popu=
lation as it goes up the coast into Canada and Alaska," said Chris West, vic=
e president of the American Forest Resources Council, which brought the laws=
uit.

"Down the road if it's determined this isn't a species that needs to be on t=
he list, there may be more opportunities to manage the land. The range of th=
e marbled murrelet overlaps significantly with the spotted owl and many of o=
ur coastal salmon runs."

The Endangered Species Act offers protection to a species as a whole as well=
 as what is called a distinct population segment, but does not define what t=
hat is. Fish and Wildlife adopted a policy in 1996 saying a distinct populat=
ion segment must be discrete and significant to warrant protection apart fro=
m the whole.

Environmentalists were outraged that Interior used a different interpretatio=
n of the policy to override Fish and Wildlife biologists.

"It's ignoring the biology and playing games with the legal standard to say=20=
this is no longer a population segment we can list," said Kristin Boyles, a=20=
lawyer for Earthjustice, an environmental public interest law firm in Seattl=
e.

"This is yet another example of the Bush administration agenda to open up Pa=
cific Northwest old growth forests to logging," said Susan Ash of the Audubo=
n Society of Portland.

Specifically, the Pacific region office found that the Northwest birds were=20=
distinct from their cousins in Canada and Alaska. Losing them would wipe out=
 a significant portion of the gene pool, create a gap in 18 percent of their=
 range, and threaten the species' longterm viability. Further, it is unclear=
 how Canada's new law protecting the murrelet as a threatened species will w=
ork out, particularly in protecting old growth forests.

Interior changed those conclusions, saying the Northwest population was not=20=
genetically, physically, behaviorally or ecologically different from Canadia=
n birds, and that Canada provided just as good protection for the birds and=20=
their habitat as the U.S.

"In the end we agreed with the assistant secretary's office that those diffe=
rences are not significant enough," said David Patte, spokesman for Fish and=
 Wildlife's Portland office. "It's kind of a policy call. They didn't change=
 any of the biology in the report."

The review found that the Washington, Oregon and California murrelets, which=
 number about 24,000, suffered a 10 percent decline in population in the pas=
t 10 years, which was comparable to the 30 percent decline in the past 30 ye=
ars reported in British Columbia, where the murrelet numbers about 66,000. A=
laska claims 860,000 murrelets.




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