Oregon: Tillamook second-growth rainforest is loaded with rare species
Report published by the Center for Biological Diversity: Noah
Greenwald and Amanda Garty state that they have identified 215 species
of concern in the Tillamook Rainforest and North Coast regions of
northwest Oregon. Of these, 71 are critically imperiled, 77 are
imperiled, and 58 are vulnerable. Those at greatest risk – the
critically imperiled – include everything from the marbled Murrelet
and dusky tree vole to the chum and coho salmon to the Oregon
silverspot butterfly.
Greenwald and Garty point to three primary
causes for this risk: logging, urbanization, and pollution. According
to Greenwald and Garty, only 1 percent of the historical levels of
old-growth forests remain in northwest Oregon. Logging and fires
account for most of this destruction, with logging contributing
significantly to habitat degradation. What complicates matters is that
the logging practices most harmful occur on private lands, which are
not as strictly regulated as public lands. For example, in 2001 alone,
88,912 acres of forests were clear cut on private lands in western
Oregon. Many species supported by the forests have experienced severe
declines and are not likely to recover. Based on their research,
Greenwald and Garty believe that the “indirect and direct impacts of
logging, including destruction of mature and old-growth forests, road
construction, erosion and other factors, are threats to at least 60
(47 percent) of the species of concern.”
http://ecosystem-preservation.suite101.com/article.cfm/oregons_northwest_forests_at_risk
