Project Overview

The Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus, hereafter murrelet) is a small seabird that inhabits coastal areas along the Pacific Ocean in western North America from Alaska to California. This species is of conservation concern, with populations residing in California, Oregon, and Washington currently listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Unlike most seabirds, the murrelet can move >80 km inland for breeding, using nesting platforms located on large trees primarily in mature and old growth stands. Given their small size and furtive behavior, locating active murrelet nests has proven exceptionally challenging, and has resulted in several significant knowledge gaps that impede conservation of this species, including in coastal forests of western Oregon and led to uncertainty for managers of private and state forestlands in the face of increased protections for the murrelet. 

In response to calls for new research to inform coastal forest management, the College of Forestry (CoF) at Oregon State University (OSU) initiated a large‐scale, long‐term study in 2016 to acquire new information on murrelet nesting habitat requirements and evaluate factors that affect breeding success at the landscape scale. Four distinct, interrelated objectives were established at the onset of the project: (1) landscape‐scale habitat modeling with existing occurrence and nest location data, (2) intensive demographic monitoring that would require finding a relatively large sample of active murrelet nests, (3) evaluating social attraction as a potential restoration approach for murrelets, and (4) a forest management experiment that tested murrelet sensitivity to adjacent harvest operations and predator movements. The first three objectives were met successfully; the last objective (forest management experiment) was planned for the Elliott State Research Forest but ultimately could not be completed after OSU scaled back its involvement with that forest. 

During five years covering 2017-2022 – and excluding 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic – the Oregon Marbled Murrelet Project research team collected data and completed research to inform management that balances murrelet habitat conservation and timber production in Oregon’s coastal forests. Results from this project have produced several key findings, which are summarized in the final report (see link below). Although financial support for the project from the OSU CoF ended in 2025, there are several ongoing projects that will continue to inform murrelet conservation and management within Oregon’s coastal forests well into the future.