Court: Oregon Illegally Denied Marbled Murrelet Endangered Species Protections

EUGENE, Ore.— An Oregon judge has issued a decision concluding the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission violated Oregon law in denying a petition filed by five conservation groups demanding the commission uplist the murrelet from threatened to endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

Lane County Circuit Court Judge Lauren Holland concluded the Fish and Wildlife Commission illegally changed its decision after first voting to accept the petition to list the murrelet as endangered.

The groups petitioned the commission to uplist the marbled murrelet in 2016. The commission voted 4-2 in February to accept the petition to increase the seabird’s protections, concluding the marbled murrelet was likely to go extinct in the foreseeable future. The commission then instructed the wildlife agency’s staff to begin development of mandatory species survival guidelines as required under Oregon law.

But, after a change in its membership, the commission reversed itself without explanation, and voted 4-2 in June to deny the petition it had accepted just four months earlier.

“Oregon’s desperate struggle to avoid protections for the marbled murrelet ignored science, the law and ODFW’s mission to protect Oregon’s imperiled wildlife,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “Our Governor needs to step up and meaningfully address her agencies’ cowering demeanors when it comes to regulating private industries in Oregon. This active neglect of duties towards imperiled species left the marbled murrelet on a path toward extinction in Oregon. It is a shame that we even need the court to address these issues.”

The marbled murrelet is a small seabird that nests in old-growth and mature forests and forages at sea. Its population has declined dramatically in recent decades due to extensive logging in Oregon’s coast range.

It was listed as threatened under the Oregon Endangered Species Act in 1995. However, Oregon has allowed intensive clearcut logging to continue in marbled murrelet habitat on lands owned and regulated by the state. Uplisting to endangered status would require the state to develop a management plan and survival guidelines, providing much-needed protections for the species.

“There can be no question the marbled murrelet is endangered in Oregon,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Logging, warming seas and a host of other factors are all taking a toll on this far-flying seabird. We’re so glad the court rejected the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s wrongheaded reversal of its decision to uplist the murrelet to endangered.”

In 2017, responding to the petition from conservation organizations, ODFW conducted a status review to assess the murrelet’s condition. The review demonstrated that murrelets need increased protection under the Oregon Endangered Species Act, due largely to loss of nesting habitat from ongoing clearcut logging on lands managed by the state of Oregon.

“This decision is a win for marbled murrelets and for Oregonians who care about protecting biodiversity in the Pacific Northwest,” said Quinn Read, director of the Northwest program at Defenders of Wildlife. “The Commission’s attempt to deny protections for this imperiled species undermined fair and transparent public process and disregarded overwhelming science. The court is now holding the commission accountable to science and the urgent need to protect our native wildlife.”

The status review provided copious evidence from multiple peer-reviewed studies that murrelets are at serious risk in Oregon. The best available science predicts the extinction probability at 80 percent by 2060 along Oregon’s central and north coasts and 80 percent by 2100 along Oregon’s south coast. California and Washington have already classified murrelets as endangered.

“The ODFW Commission’s reversal of its decision to uplist the murrelet to endangered was outrageous and had no basis in either science or law,” said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for Portland Audubon. “It is time now for ODFW to do what they should have done more than a year ago and uplist the murrelet to endangered and put in place measures to reverse its decline toward extinction.”

Judge Holland concluded that after voting to accept the petition to uplist the marbled murrelet to endangered status under Oregon law – an officially stated agency position under the law – and then subsequently voting to deny the petition, the commission was required to explain the contradiction between the two decisions. Because the commission offered no explanation, the decision to deny the petition violated Oregon law. Holland concluded the commission failed to provide a written basis denying the uplisting petition.

“We are in the midst of a global extinction crisis. Oregon will not be able to confront that crisis and protect our native wildlife if our leaders are willing to ignore science, the public and even their own rules to appease the timber industry,” said Danielle Moser, wildlife program coordinator for Oregon Wild.

“The best available science tells us that murrelets in Oregon will go extinct in the near future unless we take immediate action to rectify the biggest threats to the murrelet’s survival. The uplisting petition was aimed at doing that,” said John Mellgren, wildlife director for the Western Environmental Law Center.

The conservation groups in this case are represented by attorneys from Cascadia Wildlands, Western Environmental Law Center, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

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Contact:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@old.cascwild.org
Quinn Read, Defenders of Wildlife, (206) 508-5474, qread@defenders.org
Jared Margolis, Center for Biological Diversity, (802) 310-4054, jmargolis@biologicaldiversity.org 
Joe Liebezeit, Audubon Society of Portland, (503) 329-6026 jliebezeit@audubonportland.org 
Danielle Moser, Oregon Wild, (503)-283-6343 x 226, dm@oregonwild.org

Agency Capitulates to Logging Industry, Ignores Science, Law, ODFW’s Mission

PORTLAND, Ore. — Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit today against the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission for failing to uplist the marbled murrelet from threatened to endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

The groups petitioned the ODFW Commission to uplist the marbled murrelet in 2016. The Commission voted 4-2 in February to accept the petition to uplist the seabird and instructed ODFW staff to begin development of mandatory species survival guidelines as required under Oregon law.

But the Commission caved to intense pressure from the logging industry at a June meeting, voting 4-2 to deny the petition it had accepted just four months earlier.

“The Commission’s reversal of its decision to uplist the marbled murrelet just four months earlier ignored science, the law and ODFW’s mission to protect Oregon’s imperiled wildlife,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “The reversal demonstrates this Commission’s active neglect of its duties towards imperiled species, and disappointingly, leaves the marbled murrelet on a path toward extinction in Oregon.”

The marbled murrelet is a small seabird that nests in old-growth and mature forests and forages at sea. Its population has declined dramatically over the decades because of extensive logging in Oregon’s Coast Range. It was listed as threatened under the Oregon Endangered Species Act in 1995. However, Oregon has allowed intensive clearcut logging to continue in marbled murrelet habitat on lands owned and regulated by the state. Uplisting to “endangered” status would require the state to develop a management plan and survival guidelines, providing much needed protections for the species.

“Imperiled species like the marbled murrelet will continue to slide toward extinction if we turn our back on them in favor of industry interests,” said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Oregon needs to step up and protect the murrelet before it’s lost forever.”

In 2017, responding to the petition from conservation organizations, ODFW conducted a status review to assess the murrelet’s condition. The review demonstrated that murrelets need increased protection under the Oregon Endangered Species Act, due largely to loss of nesting habitat from ongoing clear-cut logging on lands managed by the state of Oregon.

“The ODFW Commission made exactly the right decision in February when it voted to uplist the marbled murrelet from threatened to endangered based on its own staff’s status report and hours of testimony from experts,” said Quinn Read, Northwest director at Defenders of Wildlife. “The law clearly requires the Commission to base its decision on science, but instead in June, the Commissioners continued a pattern of playing politics with the state’s most imperiled wildlife species.”

The status review provided copious evidence from multiple peer-reviewed studies that murrelets are in trouble in Oregon. The best available science predicts the extinction probability at 80 percent by 2060 along Oregon’s central and north coasts and 80 percent by 2100 along Oregon’s south coast. California and Washington have already classified murrelets as endangered, highlighting the bird’s dire status in those neighboring states.

“The science is clear and overwhelming,” said Joe Liebezeit, staff scientist at Audubon Society of Portland. “The June Commission decision unfortunately perpetuates an approach at ODFW that has spanned nearly three decades of the state turning its back on the murrelet and ignoring the science that shows that logging of our older coastal forests under the purview of the state of Oregon is a primary factor driving this species toward extinction.”

The lawsuit includes four claims. First, the ODFW Commission failed to base its decision upon documented and verifiable science. Second, the Commission failed to adequately explain its decision to reverse its prior decision to uplist. Next, the decision not to uplist is not supported by substantial evidence in the record. Finally, the Commission failed to provide adequate notice to the public or the petitioners to weigh in on its decision to reverse the uplisting in June.

The ODFW Commission will meet on Aug. 3 to consider survival guidelines for timber companies to help conserve marbled murrelets — guidelines that have no force of law and would be voluntary. Those guidelines would have been mandatory had the species been uplisted.

Trying to silence the public concerned about its surprise June decision, the Commission initially announced that it would accept no public testimony at the August hearing and turned down multiple request for public testimony. It only agreed to allow public testimony after conservation groups found an existing rule that requires the Commission to allow public testimony when at least 10 people or an organization representing at least 10 people request a hearing.

“This entire process has demonstrated a remarkable level of disrespect for the public and public process,” said Danielle Moser, Wildlife Program Coordinator for Oregon Wild. “The ODFW Commission failed to announce that it would be considering reversing its previous decision to uplist the murrelet, and instead, has done everything possible to squelch public input. It speaks to the urgent need for Governor Brown to appoint Commissioners who are committed to protecting Oregon’s native fish and wildlife, not beholden to special interest industries. This Friday, the ODFW Commission has a chance to fix the huge mistake it created in June by adopting mandatory survival guidelines. Oregon Wild and our members will be there, reminding the Commission of its mission to protect the state’s wildlife.”

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The conservation groups in this case are represented by attorneys from Cascadia Wildlands and Center for Biological Diversity.

Oregon Raises Protections for Rare Seabird

Logging, Loss of Prey, Climate Change All Endanger Marbled Murrelet

PORTLAND, Ore. — Responding to a petition from conservation groups, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted today to change the status of marbled murrelets from threatened to endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.

The decision to uplist the murrelet reflects the increasingly imperiled status of the species in Oregon and represents an important step in reversing its ongoing decline toward extinction in the state.

“We applaud the commission for recognizing that the marbled murrelet warrants endangered status in Oregon,” said Nick Cady, legal director at Cascadia Wildlands. “This decision sets the stage for the state of Oregon to take the steps that will be necessary to recover this species in Oregon.”

The marbled murrelet is a seabird that nests in old-growth and mature forests and forages at sea. Its population has declined dramatically over the decades because of extensive logging in Oregon’s Coast Range. The commission’s decision could have implications for forest protection on state and private timberlands.

“While federal laws have stabilized habitat loss on federal lands, the state of Oregon has continued to allow logging of older forests at an alarming rate and failed to adequately address new threats to the species,” said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland. “Changing the murrelet’s status to endangered will help ensure that Oregon takes the steps necessary to do its part to save this species.”

In response to a petition from multiple conservation organizations, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife developed a status review to assess the murrelet’s condition. The review demonstrated that murrelets need increased protections under the Oregon Endangered Species Act due largely to loss of nesting habitat from ongoing clear-cut logging. State protections are critical, because although many of Oregon’s Coast Range old-growth forests have been logged and converted into industrial tree farms, some of the best remaining older forests occur on state-managed lands.

“We’re pleased commissioners made a sound, science-based decision that’s exactly what these desperately imperiled seabirds need to survive,” said Tierra Curry, senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The science was absolutely clear that the murrelet warrants endangered status in Oregon. This protection will be critical to preserving an amazing part of our state’s natural heritage.”

The murrelet was listed as threatened in 1995. However, the recent status review conducted by Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife concluded that the “key threats identified at the time of listing have continued or increased, and many new threats have been identified since the 1990s … the life history exhibited by this species provides little opportunity for the population to rapidly increase even under the most optimal circumstances.” It also noted that the primary causes of marbled murrelet declines — loss and fragmentation of older forest habitat on which the bird depends for nesting — have “slowed, but not halted … since the 1990s,” with greatest losses occurring on lands managed by the state. The review specifically notes that existing programs and regulation have “failed to prevent continued high rates of habitat loss on nonfederal lands in Oregon.”

The Oregon Endangered Species Act requires that the commission adopt survival guidelines for the species at the time of reclassification. Survival guidelines are quantifiable and measurable guidelines necessary to ensure the survival of individual members of the species. Guidelines may include take avoidance and protecting resource sites such as nest sites or other sites critical to the survival of individual members of the species. They would serve as interim protection until endangered species management plans are developed by applicable state agencies and approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

“It is remarkable that this species has been listed as threatened for more than 20 years but the state of Oregon has never developed a plan to actually protect murrelets on either lands owned by the state of Oregon or private timber lands,” said Quinn Read, Northwest director of Defenders of Wildlife. “The status quo has failed this iconic Oregon seabird. We look forward to working with ODFW and other agencies to developing a plan that will truly protect this species and allow it to recover in Oregon.”

“This is an important step for ODFW.  The agency has struggled to faithfully act on it’s core mission of protecting all native fish and wildlife in our state, but with this action to protect the marbled murrelet we hope they have turned the page,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director for Oregon Wild.

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The conservation groups that initiated the petition to declare the marbled murrelet endangered in Oregon were Cascadia Wildlands, Audubon Society of Portland, the Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Wild, Coast Range Forest Watch and the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Contacts:
Nick Cady, Cascadia Wildlands, (314) 482-3746, nick@old.cascwild.org
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org

Oregon Board of Forestry Reverses Course, Will Develop Murrelet Protections

Rulemaking Initiated to Protect Imperiled Seabird on State, Private Lands

EUGENE, Ore.— The Oregon Board of Forestry has reversed its prior decision to deny a petition from conservation groups that called for the identification and protection of marbled murrelet sites on state and private forest lands. The Board is now coordinating with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other state land owning agencies to identify and protect important old-growth forest areas for the seabird threatened with extinction.

“It is reassuring to see the Board reverse course on this issue, especially given Oregon’s current efforts to sell off the Elliott State Forest,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “The Elliott is a unique block of old-growth forest that is critical to the survival and recovery of this species, and should be the first area prioritized by the Board.”

Murrelets fly inland from the ocean to nest on wide, mossy limbs found in in the mature and old-growth forests of the Oregon Coast Range.  While most of Oregon’s coast range has been converted into industrial timberland that does not provide nesting habitat for the bird, the 93,000-acre Elliott State Forest, located in the coast range just east of Coos Bay, is a crucial block of older forest habitat and essential to the reproductive success of the species.

”The marbled murrelet is the only seabird in the world that nests in old-growth forests and needs our help to survive,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director with the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m thrilled Oregon’s Board of Forestry is finally stepping up to provide protections to this imperiled bird and the forests it depends on.”

The petition to the Board of Forestry was filed Sept. 9th in conjunction with a petition to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to uplist the species’ protection status from “threatened” to “endangered.” Given recent efforts by federal land managers to gut protections for the species and the substantial amount of habitat on state and private lands, the Department of Fish and Wildlife granted the petition, but the Board of Forestry denied its petition. After the Board’s denial, conservation groups filed a Petition for Review and asked the Board to reconsider its decision in light of requirements under Oregon law related to imperiled species.  The Board convened a special meeting on November 29, 2016 and stated it “withdraws and reverses its August 1, 2016 order denying the Petition for Rulemaking, accepts the Petition for Rulemaking, and immediately commences the rulemaking process.”

“Deforestation throughout the Coast Range have reduced habitat for marbled murrelets to just a few islands of old growth in a sea of clearcuts and monoculture tree plantations,” said Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild. “Oregon is already decades overdue in developing a meaningful plan for conserving murrelet habitat. They cannot wait another 30 years.”

While murrelets have been listed as a ‘threatened’ species for nearly 30 years, Oregon has never developed a plan to recover them or protect the old-growth habitat that they depend on, and instead, the state has relied on the nesting habitat located on nearby federal forestlands. This is no longer sufficient as murrelet populations in the Pacific Northwest continue to decline, and a recent status review conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service determined that conservation of nesting habitat on state and private lands is now critical to the species’ survival.

The Petition to the Board of Forestry can be found here.