"Deal" Sacrifice Puts Fate of Murrelet in Question
EPIC Pursues Legal Avenues to Protect Elusive Foglark

Pacific Lumber this winter began logging areas that contain ancient redwood trees known to support nesting marbled murrelets, one of the most outrageous and unlawful concessions granted by the infamous Headwaters Deal. EPIC has been before the California Superior Court repeatedly over the last several months to seek an emergency reprieve from this logging, but with each of these denied so far, it is time to take additional action to protect this precious species.

The forests at stake have been closed to logging operations since the marbled murrelet was listed under both the California and federal Endangered Species Acts in 1992. However, in 1999 PL obtained a "take" permit to log approximately 10,000 acres of unentered and "residual" (previously selectively logged) ancient forests that provide marbled murrelet habitat as part of the Headwaters Deal. The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) estimates that PL will kill up to 340 marbled murrelets by logging these areas.

EPIC challenged DFG's approval of this "take" permit and other provisions of the Headwaters Deal immediately after it was granted in 1999. However, the state and PL used a series of stalling tactics to delay the case from moving forward, and a trial that was originally scheduled for November 2001 is now still months away. In the meantime, PL rushed to cut the murrelet habitat cleared for logging, and has logged hundreds of acres that were rated by the company and wildlife agencies as being "lower quality."

In November 2001, PL asked DFG to begin "releasing" the highest quality of the murrelet habitat sacrificed by the Deal. The company requested that seven logging plans be released in this first phase, including 100 acres known to support nesting murrelets within Allen Creek Grove of Headwaters Forest. EPIC filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in December to protect these areas until the merits of the case are decided and the court rules on whether such logging can be lawfully conducted at all.

The hearing for the preliminary injunction was scheduled for February 25 even though such hearings are ordinarily held within one month after a motion is filed. On February 10, EPIC learned that DFG was going to release the first of this highest quality murrelet habitat at any moment. An emergency motion was filed the next day in an effort to immediately protect these areas. Unfortunately, the court denied this motion and has not yet ruled on EPIC's motion for a preliminary injunction. Logging within these areas is ongoing as of press time.

This has delivered a considerable blow to the efforts to protect the marbled murrelet and its irreplaceable ancient redwood habitat, but EPIC is stepping up these efforts to ensure a similar tragedy is not repeated. Logging will stop in these areas between March 24 and September 15, which is the period the government recognizes as being the murrelet breeding season. The trial in this case is scheduled for August 5, and EPIC is confident that we have very strong legal points and will prevail when these are heard at the full trial on the merits. In addition, EPIC has been researching other issues surrounding the marbled murrelet and is preparing to take other legal actions to ensure this extraordinary bird continues to grace the ocean and forests of the North Coast.

MARBLED MURRELETS
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.

Number of total acres approved for logging by PL by year:
1997: 7,677
1998: 2,658
1999: 5,536
2000: 6,816 (74 logging plans)
2001: 11,750 acres (102 logging plans)

Number of murrelets in California historically: 60,000
Current number of murrelets in California: < 4,000
Percent of murrelet decline each year: 4 - 13%
Percentage of murrelet habitat gone today: 96%
Number of acres of murrelet habitat sacrificed by the Headwaters Deal: 9,400 - 9,964 acres


This article can be found online at www.wildcalifornia.org/publications/article-28