State's Marbled Murrelet Strategy Finalized

December 3rd’s Board of Natural Resources meeting in Olympia, Washington, brought to an uneasy conclusion the development of the state’s conservation strategy for the endangered Marbled Murrelet. The meeting was appropriately long (5+ hours) and gripping thanks to a very engaged board, much public comment, and agreement that today’s vote was “historic” given the twenty-two years that have passed since the “interim” conservation strategy for the murrelet was put into place.

The upshot: Alternative H was approved in a 4-2 vote with Clallam County Commissioner Bill Peach and Jim Cahill (Senior Budget Assistant to Governor Inslee for Natural Resources) voting “nay” and the rest “yay.” For those of you following this issue, Alternative H was not the alternative preferred by the conservation coalition (Washington Forest Law Center, Washington Environmental Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Conservation Northwest, Olympic Forest Coalition, Seattle Audubon) and other murreleteers as it does not provide enough conservation benefit for marbled murrelets. Nor was Alternative H the preferred alternative of the timber industry and trust beneficiaries as it does not provide enough revenue and jobs. Alternative H, according to the DNR and US Fish and Wildlife Service, meets the requirements under the Endangered Species Act and also the DNR’s fiduciary responsibility to the trust beneficiaries. And, in striking the “right balance” between conservation and revenue generation, the DRN has made no one happy.

Commissioner Peach voted nay on Alt H because he stated his belief that it does not represent the best interests of the trust beneficiaries. He is concerned that the financial impacts to the junior taxing districts have not been clearly explained by the DNR to the board or members of the public. Peach moved to delay today’s vote until March 2020 but his motion was not seconded and so failed.

This fall, Audubon chapters and others in the conservation community also advocated for a delay in the vote (for different reasons) but it became clear later on that such a delay could open the door to involvement by the Department of Interior (via Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Southwest Washington timber industry) and result in an alternative with less conservation value to murrelets.

Jim Cahill voted nay, he stated, because Governor Inslee requested he do so because of his gubenatorial concerns about changes in ocean conditions and what it has done to the marbled murrelet. (I think there is more behind this request, but I am not privy to Inslee’s insights on murrelet conservation issues).

Alternative H is definitely not the win-win everyone was hoping for but with DNR’s mutually exclusive (in my opinion) orders to protect marbled murrelets and log their nesting habitat, Alt H is meh-meh at best. The proof will be when the strategy gets played out on the ground—in the forestlands where murrelets nest.

The highlight of Tuesday’s meeting for me came toward the very end of the meeting when Board Member Chris Reykdal, Superintendent of Public Schools gave this impassioned 3-minute speech (recorded by TVW) about the future of Washington State and the funding of K-12 school construction from DNR timber sales.

The pith of Reykdal’s three minutes: “The $80-90 million that K-12 gets in school construction—we need to phase off that in time. This money has to go to counties. It has to go to the industries that are impacted by these decisions and ultimately to species preservation and habitat preservation.”

Indeed, de-linking school construction from timber harvest is long overdue and it would be a real victory if Reykdal could accomplish this through the state legislature rather than the U.S. Supreme Court (upon entering the Union, Congress mandated the newly formed Washington state use a portion of its natural resources generate revenue to fund schools, hospitals, reform institutions, and other social services; it did not, however, specify logging).

The seven years of board meetings have been largely civil and congenial, especially under the leadership of Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz. The board members expressed their gratitude to DNR staff and also to the members of the public who have been showing up at meetings over the past several years. I think they were sincere.

So, this wraps up a very long effort to craft a Long-Term Conservation Strategy for one very special bird and its extraordinary habitat. My thanks to you all for your attention to this complex and important issue. I have a hunch it’s not quite over yet since a large swath of the public audience at the board meetings these any years are lawyers.

My hope is that the murrelet will have the last word on this.

Listen here to its call: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marbled_Murrelet/sounds

Murrelet Expert Addresses Board

Renowned murrelet researcher, Dr. Martin Raphael will be making a special presentation at the September 1st Board of Natural Resources (BNR) meeting in Olympia.

Raphael is a Research Wildlife Biologist of 26 years with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Olympia and co-author of the Recommendations and Supporting Analysis of Conservation Opportunities for the Marbled Murrelet Long-Term Conservation Strategy. Funded by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), this important report is more commonly known as the 2008 Science Team Report.

Dr. Raphael will discuss why Washington's state-forest lands are crucial to the survival of the marbled murrelet. There is an unfortunate impression among members of the BNR board that because "only" 11% of Washington's marbled murrelet habitat is managed by the state (DNR) that this habitat is not crucial to the survival of this species in its listed range--a federally threatened species in Washington, Oregon, and California under the Endangered Species Act.

Of the estimated 2,099,900 acres of forested habitat for the marbled murrelet in Washington, the DNR manages 238,900 acres; the federal government 1,446,800 acres (national parks, national forests, etc); and private and tribal entities manage 414,200 acres.

Habitat losses across all land ownerships--primarily from logging and forest fire--are too great to provide the quantity and quality of nesting habitat critical to the marbled murrelet's survival.  In the next few months, the DNR has an opportunity to make a significant contribution to the survival and recovery of this species--and adopting a conservation strategy based on the 2008 Science Team Report would go a long way toward that laudable goal.

The only scientists the BNR board members have heard from during their monthly meetings are employed by the DNR. Dr. Raphael's presentation comes at the behest of the conservation community, which has been urging theDNR staff to adopt a conservation strategy based on the best-available science and to add to the three alternatives strategies under consideration a fourth based on the 2008 Science Team Report.

The DNR has been managing its forested trust lands in accordance with a 1997 Habitat Conservation Plan, a document created when little science was available on the biology and behavior of the elusive, secretive marbled murrelet and its well-hidden nesting sites. The DNR's progress updating this document has been as slow and awkward as an alcid on land.

The conservation community worked hard for Dr. Raphael to be invited to speak to the Board of Natural Resources. Your attendance at the September 1 meeting would be greatly appreciated.  The meeting begins at 9 a.m., Raphael's presentation starts at 9:30 and is schedule to last 30 minutes. Their will be a chair report by DNR's Kyle Blum on the Marbled Murrelet Long-Term Conservation Strategy and Sustainable Harvest Calculation at 11:20.

There is an opportunity for public comment at 11 a.m. If you wish to speak, please arrive by 8:50 to sign in.  If you do not wish to speak, be sure to pick up a marbled murrelet button to wear to show your support. The meeting is held in the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St. SE, Olympia.

You can also submit written comments to the BNR, MS 47000, Olympia, WA 98504-7000 or bnr@dnr.wa.gov

If you cannot make the meeting, Dr. Raphael's presentation can be viewed as a PDF through the BNR's website. Scan down to September 1 "Meeting Materials" and click on "Marbled Murrelet Modeling Presentation."  Everyone will benefit from Dr. Raphael's narrative.

Please note, the BNR will not be presented with or be voting on any strategy alternative at this meeting.  For the most up-to-date information on all things murrelet, please visit the Murrelet Survival Project.

Calling All Murreleteers!

Public comments needed! On Tuesday, November 4, 2014, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will be giving a presentation on the Long-term Conservation Strategy for the Marbled Murrelet.

The meeting is open to the public and is being held at the Natural Resource Building in Olympia at 9 a.m.

Please consider attending the meeting to urge the Board of Natural Resources to protect the buffers around marbled murrelet nesting habitat--these buffers are the next targets for logging. Sign up to speak, be a warm body, write to the BNR to express your concern. E-mail bnr@dnr.wa.gov

For more information on the meeting location, agenda, and to see the presentation Power Point, please go to the BNR website here. Scroll down past the 2011 calendar to the Board of Natural Resources Meeting Materials. Click on the link "Marbled Murrelet Long-Term Conservation Strategy Presentation" to download a pdf of the PowerPoint to be presented by the DNR.