Marbled Murrelet Redwoods Managemen

Saving the marbled murrelet in 1974 at california s big basin redwood state park the marbled murrelet the enigma of the pacific won the distinction of being the last bird species in the united states to have its nesting site discovered.

Marbled murrelet redwoods managemen.

Within the study area marbled murrelets have been primarily associated with old growth or late seral habitat and were most likely to be detected near old growth dominated by redwood. Redwood national and state parks and conservation partners have gone all in to address this problem. Courtship foraging loafing molting and preening occur in near shore marine waters. The marbled murrelet is a small robin sized diving seabird that feeds primarily on fish and invertebrates in near shore marine waters.

It nests in old growth forests or on the ground at higher latitudes where trees cannot grow. These stocky little birds dive for zooplankton and fish using their wings to fly underwater. The osu college of forestry initiated a long term comprehensive study in 2015 to assess and understand murrelet habitat needs in relation to a number of forest management issues. Marbled murrelets are long lived seabirds that spend most of their life in the marine environment but use old growth forests for nesting.

Over a million dollars have been spent on marbled murrelet conservation in redwood national and state parks in the last 15 years. Because they rely on old growth trees for. Oregon marbled murrelet project. The marbled murrelet brachyramphus marmoratus is a small seabird from the north pacific it is a member of the auk family.

The headwaters forest reserve is a group of old growth coast redwood sequoia sempervirens groves comprising about 7 472 acres 30 24 km 2 managed by the bureau of land management as part of the national landscape conservation system located in the northern california coastal forests ecoregion near humboldt bay of the u s. This cutting edge research applies new methods and technology to improve our understanding of murrelet nesting habitat requirements. Mottled in milk chocolate brown during the summer adults change into stark black and white for winter. Its habit of nesting in trees was suspected but not documented until a tree climber found a chick in 1974 making it one of the last north american bird species to have its nest.

This study of marbled murrelet productivity off the coast from redwood national and state parks was designed to test for an effect of nest predator management in the parks by an increased number of fledglings or a higher ratio of fledglings to older birds offshore from their nesting areas. An adaptive management process was adopted to deal with an initial dearth of information. Marbled murrelets use their wings for swimming underwater reaching depths of 90 feet. It spends the majority of its time on the ocean restingoosting and feeding but comes inland up to 80 kilometers 50 miles to nest in forest stands with old growth forest characteristics.

The marbled murrelet is listed federally as a threatened species in washington oregon and california and is a california state endangered species.