3. Identify additional inventory needs and methodology 

 to facilitate statistically meaningful long term monitoring of 

 both the species and its habitats, thus providing the information 

 needed to develop sound strategies to provide for their 

 maintenance and management. 



4. Identify additional research needs to fill information 

 gaps preventing a full understanding of Marbled Murrelet 

 ecology. 



5. Provide suggestions to improve the compatibility of 

 data bases maintained by various entities. 



Organization 



The Assessment effort was organized into a set of working 

 groups as follows: 



Interagency Conservation Assessment Coordinating 

 Group The intent of this group was to coordinate and provide 

 support to Conservation Assessment activities among the 

 state, provincial, and federal agencies with Marbled Murrelet 

 management responsibilities. These agencies and organizations 

 were invited to participate by the two Group Leaders: Garland 

 N. Mason, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany, 

 California; and Hugh Black, Pacific Northwest Region, 

 Portland. Oregon both with the USDA Forest Service. 



Conservation Assessment Core Team The Core 

 Team was headed by a Team Leader (C.J. Ralph), provided 

 by the Pacific Southwest Station, and three senior scientists 

 with established expertise in various aspects of ecology 

 who, drawing on the knowledge provided by the Technical 

 Working Group, provided the scientific expertise to formulate 

 the Conservation Assessment. The Team Leader provided 

 the overall technical and administrative leadership for 

 assessment development and ensured good communication 

 between the Coordinating Group, the Core Team, and the 

 Technical Working Group. The scientists in the Core Team 

 became the technical editors of the final volume. 



Conservation Assessment Technical Working 

 Group This group was open to all persons with knowledge 

 or abilities that could contribute to the formulation of the 

 Conservation Assessment (see Appendix A in this volume), 

 and provided the following functions: 



Collected and provided technical information 

 required by the Working Group. 



Wrote chapters of the Assessment, as appropriate. 



Provided assistance, advice, and input to other 

 members of the Working Group as requested. 



Informed respective agencies, organizations, or 

 regions as to progress and findings of the 

 Conservation Assessment. 



Provided expertise to formulate inter-regional 

 assessments. 



Identified and overcame obstacles to gathering 

 information for the Assessment. 



Members of the Working Group included: 



Marbled Murrelet specialists from universities, 

 agencies, private industry, and conservation 

 organizations. 



Regional representatives from USDA Forest Service 

 Regions in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and 

 California. 



Agency Representatives from three U.S. Department 

 of the Interior agencies Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 National Biological Service, National Park Service 

 and Canadian Wildlife Service, among others. 



Representatives from state and provincial fish and 

 wildlife agencies not represented above. 



Specialists from various disciplines useful to the 

 process of the Assessment. 



Line officers. 



Financial assistance was provided by various agencies 

 and organizations, acknowledged in each chapter, and also 

 by the Assessment itself that provided certain members of 

 the Technical Working Group with funds to enable them to 

 analyze their data in a more timely manner than would have 

 been possible in the normal course of events. 



Working Environment 



Working sessions of the Core Team and the Working 

 Group were open to all persons interested in the proceedings, 

 with the Team Leader acting as chair. 



Working Group members participated fully with the 

 Core Team and participated in all decisions. The Core Team 

 provided direction and strived for consensus among the 

 Team and Group members. Minority reports were possible 

 and encouraged. Wildlife Society standards for authorship 

 were used. In the final stages of compilation of the volume, 

 the technical editors met and reviewed chapters which were 

 then sent to authors for final approval of all contents. 



Products 



The primary product of the Assessment is this volume. 

 Each chapter in the volume was reviewed by numerous 

 researchers and biologists in appropriate fields, as well as by 

 the Core Team. In addition, the entire document was reviewed 

 by four persons appointed by the Presidents of learned 

 societies: The Wildlife Society (David Marshall). American 

 Ornithologists Union (Peter Conners), Ecological Society of 

 America (Frank A. Pitelka), and the Cooper Ornithological 

 Society (Douglas Bell). 



The report is organized into chapters addressing the 

 various aspects of Marbled Murrelet biology and provide 

 data and analyses. Some general management considerations 

 are offered in the overview chapter, and are intended to 



USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-152. 1995. 



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