State cancels dozens of timber sales to protect bird

The Oregon Department of Forestry has agreed to cancel more than two dozen timber sales on state forests because they threaten the survival of the marbled murrelet, a sea bird that nests in large old trees. The proposed settlement filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene comes in a lawsuit brought by three conservation groups, Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Audubon Society of Portland. It alleged that the department violated the Endangered Species Act prohibiting the harming of a protected species by failing to protect stands of trees on the Elliott and other state forests, where threatened marbled murrelets build their nests. The murrelet is a robin-size bird that lives on the ocean, and flies as far as 50 miles inland to nest in old growth forests. The bird was declared a threatened species about two decades ago, making it a factor in the continuing court and political battles over logging in the Northwest. The settlement comes as the state has been trying to increase logging on state forests to provide more funding for schools and counties and more logs for local mills...more

 A bird is more important than school children and jobs.