Northwest Forest Plan—the first 10 years (1994-2003): status and trends of populations and nesting habitat for the marbled murrelet.

The Northwest Forest Plan (the Plan) is a large-scale ecosystem management plan for federal land in the Pacific Northwest. Marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) populations and habitat were monitored to evaluate effectiveness of the Plan. The chapters in this volume summarize information on marbled murrelet ecology and present the monitoring results for marbled murrelets over the first 10 years of the Plan, 1994 to 2003. The marbled murrelet was federally listed in 1992 as threatened in Washington, Oregon, and California. The Plan identified the marbled murrelet as a major objective in the Plan design and hence the status of the murrelet is a key indicator of the Plan’s potential success. Effectiveness monitoring for the marbled murrelet has two facets: (1) assess population trends at sea by using a unified sampling design and standardized survey methods, and (2) establish a credible estimate of baseline nesting-habitat data by modeling habitat relations, and use the baseline to track habitat changes over time. Our primary monitoring objective was to determine the status and trends of marbled murrelet populations and nesting habitat in the Plan area.