Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife looks at reclassifying marbled murrelet

By Saphara Harrell
Coos Bay World
October 30, 2017
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

SALEM — Marbled murrelets could be re-listed as endangered under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) released a draft status review on the marbled murrelet after a petition from several environmental groups to reclassify the bird. Marbled murrelets are small seabirds that nest in old-growth forests and forage in the ocean. They are found along the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to California. The seabird, which is considered endangered in both California and Washington, is currently listed as threatened in Oregon. Murrelets were federally listed as threatened in 1992 in the three states. Murrelets have an 80 percent chance of going extinct in the Siskiyou Coast Range by 2060, according to ODFW’s report. There has never been a petition to change the listing of a currently-listed species under the Oregon Endangered Species Act, according to Martin Nugent with ODFW. Over the years, species have been added or removed under the state act, but no species has been uplisted.

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