What sort of species are found in Headwaters Forest?
Headwaters Forest is home to many rare plant and animal species. The most famous of these is the spotted owl, long an icon of ancient forest preservation efforts throughout the West. Headwaters also provides habitat for the marbled murrelet, a small, elusive seabird that only nests in the canopy of large old-growth trees. Currently the marbled murrelet is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) as “threatened” and under the state ESA as “endangered.” The California Department of Fish and Game estimated that Headwaters Forest represents one of the state’s three most important habitat areas for the marbled murrelet. The groves of Headwaters Forest also protect water quality essential for survival of the coho salmon, listed as “threatened” under the federal ESA. Peter Moyle, a fisheries biologist at the University of California-Davis, testified to Congress in 1994 that up to 10 percent of California’s remaining population of wild coho salmon may use the streams of Headwaters
