SAVING THE DUSKY TREE VOLE

Arboreal residents of Oregon’s drippy coastal forests, dusky tree voles have grown dependent on intact communities of thousand-year-old trees. Building nests on tree branches and rarely leaving the canopy, they rely on the complexities of ancient ecosystems as much as their red tree vole cousins. Yet the dusky tree vole’s habitat is being logged and developed throughout its range, especially on the north coast of Oregon, where there is little federal land. Without protections, most of the private and state lands in this area are being heavily managed to maximize timber production, causing significant declines in dusky tree vole populations.

In June 2007, the Center and allies filed a citizen petition to protect the dusky tree vole under the Endangered Species Act, which if successful will lead to the designation of critical habitat, development of a recovery plan, and restoration of native old-growth ecosystems. Since the administration failed to respond to our petition after more than a year, we filed a notice of intent to sue Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in September 2008, and in October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that both the dusky tree vole and the red tree vole may warrant federal protection. We’d ultimately like to see in place a comprehensive plan similar to the Northwest Forest Plan to protect the region’s rich biological diversity. The tree vole, an important indicator of forest health because of its vulnerability to ecological disturbances, is just one of dozens of species that depend on the Northwest’s forests, rivers, and coastlines to survive.