In July 2021, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission reclassified the Marbled Murrelet from threatened to endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act. The purpose of this agenda item is for the Commission to determine the role of Department-owned lands in the conservation of Marbled Murrelets. Agency staff will also provide an update on the determinations of roles by other state land owning and managing agencies in the conservation of the Marbled Murrelet.

The most direct effect of listing a species as threatened or endangered under the OESA is through management decisions on state-owned, managed, or leased lands. The OESA requires that state agencies comply with survival guidelines adopted by the Commission (or alternative process as described in ORS 496.182(3)) and requires particular state agencies to develop plans for the management and protection of endangered species (ORS 496.182(8), OAR 635-100-0140(6)). Survival guidelines are quantifiable and measurable guidelines necessary to ensure the survival of individual members of the species (OAR 635-100-0100(13)). Survival guidelines serve as interim protection measures until endangered species management plans are developed, completed, and approved by applicable state agencies (required within 18 months of uplisting) and then subsequently reviewed and approved by the Commission (required within 24 months of uplisting) (ORS 496.182(8)(a)(C), (D)).

The OESA and administrative rules require that within four months of the listing decision, the Commission, in consultation and cooperation with the state land owning and managing agencies, determines which land owning or managing agencies can play a role in conservation of the species (ORS 496.182(8)(a)). In November 2021, the Commission determined that ten state agencies that that own, manage or lease lands, can play a role in the conservation of the Marbled Murrelet on their respective state lands and subsequently notified those agencies of their obligation to develop endangered species management plans. The agencies and a summary of efforts to date are:

• Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF): The Board of Forestry determined in March 2022 that ODF’s role on ODF-managed lands, will be a contribution to conservation of Marbled Murrelets. This contribution to conservation is designed to support stable or increasing population and habitat trends, by protecting occupied habitat and improving habitat conditions, and is based on existing take avoidance policies and other commitments under their current Forest Management Plan.
• Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD): Role(s) still being determined. There is likely to be more than one role given different property objectives.
• Oregon Department of State Lands (ODSL): Role(s) still being determined. There is likely to be more than one role given different property objectives.
• Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT): On ODOT’s actively managed and maintained lands, they will continue to meet survival guideline requirements for Marbled Murrelets by following established ODOT practices with a goal of take avoidance. As road builders and maintainers of roads and rights of way, ODOT’s role in Marbled Murrelet conservation and management is to avoid take when possible. ODOT intends to contribute to recovery on federally-funded state highway projects that impact Marbled Murrelet habitat. If a situation arises where ODOT cannot avoid take, ODOT would minimize take to the greatest extent practicable through coordination with the Department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and provide reasonable and prudent mitigation measures.
• Oregon Military Department (OMD): Role(s) still being determined on the one property which also has a federal consultation nexus through proposed activities on Camp Rilea.
• Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC): One property (Shutter Creek Correctional Institute) has 20 acres of moderate and high probability murrelet nesting habitat. Property ownership is currently being transferred to the federal government or another state agency. Given the uncertainty with this timeline, ODOC is proceeding with the role determination and endangered species management plan development.
• Oregon Department of Aviation (ODA): Role(s) still being determined.
• Oregon Youth Authority (OYA): OYA’s role is largely focused on protections for existing stands of trees on their Tillamook Youth Correctional Facility. No murrelet observations have been recorded and there is no indication of existing or prior nesting activities.
• Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB): Role(s) still being determined. There is likely to be more than one role given different property objectives.

Following the Commission’s determination of the agencies that can play a role in the conservation of the Marbled Murrelet, each agency is required to determine the role its state land will serve in the conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. An agency’s role may include, but is not limited to:

• Conservation (i.e., the use of methods and procedures necessary to bring the marbled murrelet to the point at which the measures provided under ORS 496.171 to 496.182 are no longer necessary. These measures and procedures include, but are not limited to, activities associated with scientific resource management such as research, census taking, law enforcement, habitat acquisition and maintenance, habitat protection, and restoration, propagation, and transplantation)
• Contribution toward conservation, or
• Take avoidance, as specified in the survival guidelines for the Marbled Murrelet (OAR 635-100-0137).

In making their role determinations, each state agency needs to balance each of the following:

• The statutory or constitutional requirements, rules and policies applicable to the agency’s programs
• The social and economic impacts that conservation would have on the State of Oregon
• The conservation needs of the Marbled Murrelet (ODFW 2021. Chapter 2)
• The defined purpose of the state land the agency owns or manages, and
• The roles that land other than state land will play in the conservation of the species

The agencies must balance these five factors consistent with the biological aspects of the Marbled Murrelet biology identified by the Department (ODFW 2021), and the statutory or constitutional obligations of each of the agencies (including the land’s statutory purpose).


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-07-25 12:24:41

Last Update: 2022-07-25 13:01:32