Marbled Murrelet Protection Bill

Marbled Murrelet Protection Bill

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. Forty years ago, the northwest timber industry was 'given the bird' with Spotted Owl protections.

Now, many House Republicans are faced with a bill requiring the Department of Natural Resources to track the status of the Marbled Murrelet. Dan Kristiansen sees it as a rerun of the spotted owl nightmare ...

KRISTIANSEN: "It wasn't that long ago when those families were thriving. Those communities were thriving. Those people had incomes. The schools were doing great. Those communities were just bustling with energy. And this body, a generation before us, made some decisions that crushed that."

Vancouver's Brandon Vick was having none of it when a Democrat expressed surprise the decades-old debate came up ...

VICK: "Damn straight we're going to re-fight those timber battles the last 40 years on this floor. This is a 'fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me argument."

Kennewick's Brad Klippert says lawmakers need to stand up for families ...

KLIPPERT: "There are families represented that have been destroyed because of a previous decision and I do not want that to happen again because of another bird!"

Aberdeen's Jim Walsh offered amendments to put legislators on the Marbled Murrelet advisory committee and to report the revenue loss and impact of the seabird's conservation plan ...

WALSH: "The fathers and mothers and children of the small towns in southwest Washington -- We have to think of the people of our state first! Ahead of the bird, ahead of the pocket gopher, ahead of the rest of it – we need to think of the people we represent in the body."

Without amendments, the bill passed 54-43.

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