>Sender: <pasbp at igc.apc.org>
>From: "Bonnie Phillips" <pasbp at igc.apc.org>
>Organization: Pilchuck Audubon Society
>Reply-to: pasbp at igc.apc.org
>Priority: normal



Contact: Paul Engelmeyer
> (541) 547-4097
> Bonnie Phillips
> (206) 397-6056
>
>VOLUNTEERS CONDUCTING MARBLED MURRELET SURVEYS IN OREGON'S NATIONAL FORESTS --
>
>PROJECT LAUNCHED TO SAVE ENDANGERED SPECIES AND OLD GROWTH FOREST ECOSYSTEM
>
>EUGENE, OR, APRIL 25 -- On Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, wildlife
>biologist Jeff Reams will be offering a marbled murrelet surveyors' training
>program in Oregon's Suislaw National Forest. The purpose of this training
is to
>protect this rare, threatened seabird and our old growth forest ecosystem. A
>similar murrelet survey training took place last weekend in Olympic National
>Forest.
>
>This weekend's murrelet survey training program is sponsored by National
Audubon
>Society, Pilchuck Audubon Society, the Coast Range Association, and many
Audubon
>chapters throughout Oregon and Washington State. Over 40 volunteers have
>already signed on to conduct these surveys. An additional murrelet survey
will
>occur on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, near Seattle, Washington in
>May 11.
>
>Last year, an inappropriate 'timber salvage' logging rider was tacked onto the
>FY95 Interior Appropriations Rescissions Act. This lawless clearcutting rider
>opened up thousands of acres of old growth forests --vast stretches of
>magnificent forest landscapes-- to clearcutting. The rider mandates logging
>that circumvents vital environmental laws such as the Endangered Species
Act and
>the National Forest Management Act. If the thousands of acres of
irreplaceable,
>publicly-owned forests slated to be logged are clearcut, habitat critical to
>salmon, murrelets and other threatened species will be ruined.
>
>Currently, there are a number of old growth sales on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie
>and Olympic National Forests in Washington State, and the Suislaw and Siskiyou
>National Forests and BLM Districts on Oregon's Coast Range, which could be
>clearcut if the Ninth Circuit Court upholds a ruling made by Oregon Federal
>Judge Hogan. That ruling discounted the scientifically-based Pacific Seabird
>Group protocol used by federal and state agencies (as well as private timber
>companies) to locate and verify murrelet occupancy of timber sale units.
>
>About 70% of the old growth clearcut sales which were given "jeopardy"
decisions
>by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could be logged this summer under the
>Hogan ruling. Logging these sales may jeopardize the continued existence
of the
>marbled murrelet, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
>
>Audubon chapters and others have joined together in Washington State and
Oregon
>to provide this murrelet survey training to volunteers. It's anticipated that
>these murrelet surveys will verify that this threatened seabird nests in
>critical old growth habitat within the sale unit boundary. This marbled
>murrelet occupancy within the sale unit boundary meets the more restrictive
>interpretation of the 'known to be nesting' language contained in the Oregon
>Federal Judge Hogan's interpretation of the clearcut timber rider. Although
>this ruling is being challenged in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by the
>Clinton Administration and environmental community plaintiffs, these murrelet
>surveys, using a less flexible definition, are vital should the Ninth Circuit
>uphold the Hogan ruling.
>
>These volunteer surveys, to begin on May 1, will supplement U.S. Forest
Service
>and BLM surveys scheduled to be conducted on these slated timber sales later
>in May.
>
>For more information about this weekend's murrelet training, please contact
>Audubon's Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary Manager Paul Engelmeyer at
>(541) 547-4097 or Lisa Brown, Coordinator for the Murrelet Survey Project
>at (541) 753-9211 (daytime, weekdays). For more information on the May 11
>training on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie, call Bonnie Phillips, Pilchuck Audubon
>Society at (206) 397-6056.
> ###
>
>
>