Eureka, CA - Seeking to protect thousands of acres of old growth redwood forests and a critically endangered seabird, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and Sierra Club filed a motion for a preliminary injunction today with the California Superior Court in a case against the Pacific Lumber Company (PL). Old growth trees within the forests involved are among the last remaining that support nesting Marbled Murrelets, a tiny, elusive bird that is listed under both the California and federal Endangered Species Acts (ESAs) due to habitat loss.
The forests at stake have been closed to logging operations since the Marbled Murrelet gained protection under the California and federal ESAs in 1992. However, in 1999 PL obtained a permit to log more than 10,000 acres of unentered and "residual" (previously selectively logged) ancient forests that are "occupied" by nesting Marbled Murrelets as part of the Headwaters Deal. The California Department of Fish and Game estimates that PL will kill up to 340 Marbled Murrelets by logging these areas, or nearly 10% of the population remaining in California today.
No person or entity has ever before been granted a permit to destroy Murrelet nesting habitat because the bird is so close to extinction, with PL's permit being the sole exception. The company has logged approximately 5,000 acres of Marbled Murrelet habitat under the permit so far, and is now pushing state and federal wildlife agencies to release the highest quality Murrelet habitat and allow logging to commence within the next few weeks. Logging in these areas is contrary to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Recovery Plan for the Marbled Murrelet, and world-renowned experts on the species say it could quite likely lead to the extinction of the species throughout the state of California.
Scientists estimate there were historically 60,000 Marbled Murrelets in California, but it is believed there are less than 4,000 individuals in the state today. More than 96% of their habitat has been logged over the past 150 years, and the remaining areas are small and scattered far apart from one another across the landscape. The loss of intact, contiguous stands of ancient forest habitat continues to devastate the Murrelet population today, and studies show it is declining in California at a rate of between 4 and 13% each year, meaning it could face extinction within the next 6 to 25 years.
Marbled Murrelets are small, secretive birds that fish in the ocean and fly up to 50 miles inland to nest in the canopy of ancient trees. It is a ground-nesting bird in Alaska, and it was not known where Murrelets nest in California until the 1980's. Researchers discovered that females do not build nests, but lay a single egg directly in a natural depression of a large, moss-covered limb, which is the reason they are dependent on large, old growth trees. During incubation, the female and male take turns sitting on the egg for 24-hour shifts, making sure the egg is attended at all times. Pairs return to the same forest grove year after year and sometimes nest repeatedly in the same tree. When these trees are cut down, they may never successfully relocate or nest again.
"When California became a state, more than 2 million acres of ancient redwood forests that blanketed California. Now, with less than 3 percent remaining, the Murrelet is facing a crisis situation and could be driven extinct by this logging," Cynthia Elkins, Program Director at EPIC, stated. Elkins added, "We risk not only losing ancient redwood forests, but an entire species from the state of California."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marbled Murrelet Recovery Plan stresses that the species' survival depends on the protection of all occupied nesting habitat that currently exists. It also stresses there should be very little loss of forests that could develop into Murrelet habitat over the next 100 years.
The lawsuit was filed by EPIC and the Sierra Club soon after the Headwaters Deal was consummated in 1999, and it challenges a number of provisions relating to Pacific Lumber's logging operations. With respect to the Marbled Murrelet, plaintiffs are arguing that the California Department of Fish and Game violated state laws in granting PL a permit to kill the imperiled bird and that the permit jeopardizes the continued existence of the species. EPIC and the Sierra Club are represented in this case by Sharon Duggan and Brian Gaffney. The case name is EPIC and Sierra Club v. California Department of Forestry, Department of Fish and Game, Pacific Lumber Company, Scotia Pacific Company, Salmon Creek Corporation.
Statements from Leading Scientists Regarding the Impacts of PL's Logging to the Murrelet
"…I also believe that this HCP probably will jeopardize the continued existence (e.g., survival and recovery) of the Marbled Murrelet in its California listed range..." Harry Carter, member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Marbled Murrelet Recovery Team that has researched the Murrelet for 20 years.
"It is my opinion that [PL's] HCP neither meets its goals nor is consistent with the [Marbled Murrelet] Recovery Plan. If murrelet populations are currently declining with current amounts of habitat, then the likelihood of it continuing to decline with less habitat is a given…[The HCP] will appreciably reduce the likelihood of recovery of the species in the short term and therefore will not provide for its survival…in the long term." Kim Nelson, author of the '"Pacific Seabird Group Survey Protocol for Marbled Murrelets" and leading researcher on the species.
Facts on Pacific Lumber's Logging Operations
Number of acres of Murrelet habitat that can be logged under PL's HCP: 9,400 - 9,964 acres
Number of acres of Murrelet habitat logged since the HCP was granted in 1999: about 5,000
Number of acres approved for logging by PL in 1997: 7,677
Number of acres approved for logging by PL in 1998: 2,658
Number of acres approved for logging by PL in 1999: 5,536
Number of acres approved for logging by PL in 2000: 6,816 (74 logging plans)
Number of acres approved for logging by PL in 2001: 11,750 acres (102 logging plans)
