Plan and Naslund 



Chapter 28 



Abundance. Distribution, and Population Status in Alaska 





Marbled Murrelet Distribution 



October - March 

 Prep, by J. Piatt / Research 



.00000 /KmSq 

 1.0000 /tnSq 

 4.0000 /KmSq 

 Sampled area 

 30 m contour 



.50000 /ImSq 

 2.0000 

 8.0000 /tn>Sq 

 200 m contour 



Figure 6 Distribution of Marbled Murrelets around the Kodiak Archipelago in winter (October-March). Density contour 

 polygons calculated from data grouped in 5' latitude-longitude blocks and scaled geometrically. 



of logging is credited for the decline and fragmentation of 

 murrelet populations in these regions (Rodway and others 

 1992; Sealy and Carter 1984; Stein and Miller 1992). Despite 

 the relatively large present-day population of murrelets in 

 Alaska, there is no reason to expect that populations here will 

 fare any better without habitat conservation. 



Despite Alaska's image as a pristine wilderness, much 

 old-growth habitat here has already been logged. Exact figures 

 on timber harvest and the proportion of old-growth remaining 

 are largely unpublished or undocumented (Mendenhall 1992). 

 While only 7 percent of the old-growth has been harvested 

 in the Tongass National Forest, a significant portion (about 

 40 percent) of the highly productive old-growth in the forest 

 has already been eliminated, and remaining habitat continues 

 to be logged (USDA Forest Service Alaska Region 1991; 

 Perry, this volume). Substantial areas of potential nesting 

 habitat have also been logged on state and private lands 

 elsewhere in Alaska, principally in Prince William Sound 



and the Kodiak Archipelago, and logging pressure continues, 

 as we and others (Mendenhall 1992; Forsell, pers. comm.) 

 have observed. Privately-owned forests, much of which were 

 selected or granted because of their old-growth holdings, are 

 found in all areas of known importance to murrelets. Clear- 

 cutting is planned or underway on all privately-owned forests 

 (Mendenhall 1992). 



Gill Nets 



The impact of gill-net mortality on Marbled Murrelets in 

 Alaska is poorly known. Anecdotal evidence from the past 

 suggested that 100's to 1000's of murrelets were caught in 

 gill-net fisheries in coastal areas of Alaska during the 1970's 

 (Mendenhall 1992; Carter and Sealy 1984). Quantitative data 

 on seabird bycatch from Prince William Sound in 1990 and 

 1991 (Wynne and others 1991, 1992) reveal that these earlier 

 estimates were probably of the right order of magnitude. 

 Extrapolating from observed bird bycatch rates and the 



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



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