235 



S. Kim Nelson Testimony on H.R. 2866 



MARBLEB MDREELSTS AND THE HEADWTVTERS PORHST, HDMBOLDT 



comnrr, catiIfornia (h.h. 286s) 



Int roAict: ion 



My name is S- Kim Nelson. I am a Faculty Research Wildlife 

 Biologist employed, with, the Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research 

 Unit at Oregon State university. A copy of ray CV is attached 

 {Exhibit A) .. I lead the Marbled Murrelet research program in the 

 State of Oregon. in addition, I am r-ba-t-r- of the Marbled Murrelet 

 Technical Committee of the Pacific Seabird Group, a scientific 

 society of Pacific seabird researchers. I am familiar with all 

 the on-goijig research on Marbled Muzrrelets ^ n^^ with the 

 researchers sCudying murrelets in California, Washington, British 

 Columbia, and Alaska. 



Species Status 



The Marbled Murrelet (Brachyran^hus marmoratus) was listed 

 by the U.S. Pish and Wildlife Ser-Tice as a threatened species in 

 September 1992. Habitat loss, primarily from logging, was 

 identified as the primary reason for the listing (Federal 

 Register 50 CFR, Vol. 57:45, 328-345, 1 October 1992) . 



Current population estimates include 50,000-250,00 birds in 

 Alaska (Mendenhall 1992), 20,000-45,000 birds in British Columbia 

 (Rodway 1990), 5,000 in Washington (Speich et al. 1992), 2,000 in 

 Oregon (Nelson et al. 1992), and 2,000 in California (Carter and 

 Erickson 1992) . The actual numbers of breeding birds will be 

 lower because of the presence of non-bzresders , which can coit^rise 

 as much as 53% of some Alcid populations in a single year (Gaston 

 1992) . 



Eistorically murrelets were more abiindant throughout their 

 range. Populations in California are estimated to have declined 

 as much as 90-95% in California in association with declines of 

 older-?.ged forests (Paton and Ralph 1988, 1990; Carter and 

 Erickson 1992) . In Alaska and British Columbia, declines over 

 the last 10-15 years have been estimated from 10-15% and 20-40%, 

 respectively (K. Kuletz, pers. coram.. Kelson et al. in press) . 

 Declines in Oregon and Washington may be similar to those in 

 California based on a 90% reduction in suitable habitat (Morrison 

 1988) , although no estimates have been proposed. 



BT-pgoin g- Biolocrv 



Many of the behaviors and life history patterns of Marbled 

 Murrelets are similar to their close relatives (see Drent 1965, 

 Sealy 1975, Harris and Sir3chsad 1985, Gaston 1992) . Differences 



