Tiny bird has big implications for old-growth forests

June 11, 1997
Web posted at: 10:35 p.m. EDT (0235 GMT)

From Correspondent Don Knapp

HALF MOON BAY, California (CNN) -- Move over spotted owl.

The marbled murrelet, a small seabird that nests in a few old-growth forests in California, is another flashpoint in the effort to balance economic development and environmental preservation.

The marbled murrelet is so rare and endangered the federal government bars loggers from cutting old-growth trees the bird uses for nests a few months a year.

The bird's dependence on old-growth forests is not fully understood. Questions remain about the bird's breeding and feeding.

And that puts pressure on researchers to learn more.

"It's hard because it's so small," said Esther Burkett of the California Department of Fish and Game. "It lives in a dark environment. It flies when it's dark, and it's very quiet at the nest site."

Researchers turned to technology to find the creature. "By shining a strong spotlight on the birds on the water at night, they become a little disoriented and freeze, long enough to come along and scoop them with a dip net from the front of the boat," Harry Carter of Humboldt State University.

Biologists attach miniature transmitters to the backs of captured birds and release them.

Lumberman Bud McCrary has been paying for his own murrelet studies for the past nine years. Now that he's found a bird in a stand of his old-growth trees, he won't be able to log them.

"I'd like to find out if the bird's truly endangered, or if it migrated into the area," McCrary said.

A great deal rides on what biologists learn about the marbled murrelet: a logger's family business, the fate of old-growth forests and the survival of the tiny bird.

 

Related stories:

• Redwood timber battles rage on - October 9, 1996
• Activists not soothed by suspension of logging law - December 31, 1996
• Timber vs. Marbled Murrelet - September 27, 1995

Related sites:

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• Marbled Murrelet Information Page
• The Marbled Murrelet
• Friends of Caren Oldgrowth Forest And Marbled Murrelet Home Page

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