Wildlife Promise » American White Pelicans

White House Continues to Shortchange Wetlands & Streams

Glenn Watkins — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:26:16 +0000

US Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region/Flickr

This May marks the annual American Wetlands Month – a time each year to remember the importance of wetlands for storm and flood protection, water quality, and fish and wildlife habitat. It’s a time to revive wetland conservation efforts across the nation.

But as American Wetlands Month kicked off last week, another water-related anniversary quietly slipped by…but it wasn’t a happy one. May 2^nd marked the two-year anniversary since the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers submitted proposed clean water guidance that restores and clarifies Clean Water Act protections for America’s wetlands, lakes, and streams.

This widely supported guidance has been languishing at the White House in final form for over a year. Meanwhile, 20 million wetland acres and an estimated 2 million stream miles are at increased risk of pollution and destruction. Over half of America’s streams and rivers are in poor condition according to the latest National Rivers and Stream Assessment. And, for the first time since the 1980s, wetland losses are on the increase again.

Not exactly the most fitting celebration for the 23^rd anniversary of American Wetlands Month.

This unacceptable two year delay of action to restore crucial Clean Water Act protections to wetlands, lakes, and streams is costing our wildlife and our drinking water. The Obama administration should promptly finalize the clean water guidance and proceed with clean water rulemaking. Doing so is a crucial first-step toward restoring lasting protections to wetlands, lakes, and streams that are currently at risk.

Wetlands Under Attack

The American White Pelican is huge – it has a nine-foot wingspan, measures over five feet in length, and weighs about 16.4 pounds. Image: mikebaird/Flickr

In the wake of two Supreme Court decisions that weakened Clean Water Act protections, roughly 20 million wetland acres have been at particularly high risk of destruction. The millions of prairie pothole wetlands of the Dakotas, Western Minnesota, and Western Iowa are particularly valuable and particularly threatened. These small, shallow wetlands – marks made by glaciers over 10,000 years ago – fill with water in the spring, creating important habitat for 50 percent of North American migratory waterfowl along with many grassland, water, and shorebirds including herons, sandpipers, and even the American White Pelican.

But prairie potholes are not simply America’s “Duck Factory,” they also function as sponges and store water, reducing the risk of downstream flooding in the Red River as well as the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins. It is imperative to restore Clean Water Act protections and bolster agricultural wetland conservation measures to protect these valuable prairie wetlands.

The prairie pothole region is under particular threat from weakened Clean Water Act protections. Plains and Prairie Potholes Landscape Conservation/Flickr.

Let’s give our wetlands a better celebration – Act now to restore Clean Water Act protections

Our nation’s large, more iconic and recognizable rivers, lakes, and coastal waters depend on the health of the smaller streams and headwaters that sustain them. If the Clean Water Act doesn’t protect this network of small streams and wetlands, how can we hope to ensure the lasting health of our nation’s larger waterways?

It’s time for the administration to take a stand to restore protections for millions of wetland acres and stream miles. The very fate of our nation’s clean water and wildlife depends on it.

BP Connection? Oil Traces Found in Pelican Eggs Far from Gulf

Miles Grant — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:26:56 +0000

American White Pelicans in Louisiana's Barataria Bay, March 2012 (NWF staff photo)

Could pollutants from the BP oil spill be persisting in pelicans more than a thousand miles from the Gulf of Mexico? The evidence is still preliminary, but Minnesota Public Radio reports researchers were alarmed to find traces of oil and dispersant in American White Pelican eggsin the middle of Minnesota:

Researchers for the state Department of Natural Resources have found evidence of petroleum compounds and the chemical used to clean up the oil in the eggs of pelicans nesting in Minnesota.

Scientists are looking for pollutants on a western Minnesota lake that is home to the largest colony of American White Pelicans in North America. About 34,000 adult pelicans will raise some 17,000 chicks this year on islands in Marsh Lake.

What’s most eye-catching is the high percentage of eggs showing petroleum:

Petroleum compounds were present in 90 percent of the first batch of eggs tested. Nearly 80 percent of the eggs contained the chemical dispersant used in the gulf.

“This high percentage really surprised me,” said Carroll Henderson, the DNR’s non-game Wildlife Program supervisor.

Henderson cautions that the results are still too preliminary to draw any conclusions as there are no tests of eggs before the spill to compare them to. But he said the results raise a lot of questions.

“While many more tests are needed, this is not good news,” says Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. “Instead of quickly breaking down, oil and dispersant could be entering the food chain, persisting and being passed on to the next generation.”

To be clear, we don’t know if the petroleum found in the pelican eggs is tied to the BP oil spill. However, the National Wildlife Federation continues to find pervasive oil in coastal Louisiana marshes in key wildlife habitat.

NWF Tour Finds BP Oil Still Soaking Louisiana Marshes, Menacing Wildlife

Miles Grant — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:20:21 +0000

Tar mat coats marsh in Bay Jimmy off Louisiana's Barataria Bay, March 2012 (Photo: National Wildlife Federation)

The National Wildlife Federation this week led a boat trip to Louisiana marshes hit hard by the Gulf oil disaster.

The trip made depressingly clear that while national attention has moved on and Congress still hasn’t passed legislation to restore the Gulf, much BP oil remains, it’s easy to find, and it’s never far from the Gulf’s wildlife.

The trip out of Myrtle Grove Marina with Captain Dave Marino was led by David Muth, state director of NWF’s Mississippi River Delta campaign, David White, director of NWF’s Gulf of Mexico Restoration campaign and Alisha Renfro, NWF coastal scientist.

“As they headed south to the corner of Barataria Bay called Bay Jimmy, the tide was high and winds were blowing strong at 20 miles an hour out of the southeast,” said NWF’s David White. “That drove water high up into the marsh, obscuring the oiled edges denuded of vegetation. With such a high water line, it was hard to determine exactly how much oil might remain.”

After finding a safe place to land, it became clear that despite BP’s efforts to mop and scrape marshes, oil remains in various stages of weathering and decomposition. On the surface, it’s now weathered into tar—some small clumps and other large mats—and it’s there for the long term.

“There were a few patches in the marsh that were completely devoid of vegetation. They smelled like asphalt,” said NWF’s Alisha Renfro. “Because it’s so thick, natural processes like sunlight and bacteria have a hard time breaking down the hydrocarbons. It ends up serving like a cap on the marsh surface—a hardened seal that blocks light and gas exchange, diminishes growth and creates a dead zone with little new life. However, baby fiddler crabs and other marsh invertebrates could be seen scuttling across the dead surface.”

Dead, Oil-Covered Pelican Found on Bay Jimmy

(Warning: Graphic Photo)

In the tar-covered marshes, National Wildlife Federation staff found a dead and decomposed American white pelican. Liquid oil was visible on its wing feathers, its origin mysterious, until the staff made a new discovery.

“Wherever we stood in the marshes, liquid oil would squeeze out of the sediment,” said NWF’s Alisha Renfro. “I probed the ground a little and didn’t see the oil right at the surface, so it was probably coming from several centimeters down. During the winter, with cooler temperatures, this oil would be thicker and harder to see since it’s not at the surface, but as it has gotten warmer the oil is far less viscous and can seep back to the marsh surface.”

This photo of a dead American white pelican with oil on its feathers was taken in Louisiana's Bay Jimmy, March 2012. (Photo: National Wildlife Federation)

It’s impossible to know when the oil got on the pelican or contributed to its death. “A large flock of pelicans nearby had settled on another marshy shoreline that had been similarly oiled. They appeared healthy with no signs of oiling from a distance,” said NWF’s David Muth. “But the dead bird provided a stark reminder that nearly two years into the Gulf oil disaster, the BP oil remains a daily fact of life for the Gulf’s wildlife.”

As you can see in additional photos from the trip at NWF’s Flickr page, marshes continue to show signs of degradation and retreat. That follows the trend NWF staff have witnessed in recent trips, like the collapse of Cat Island’s mangrove trees from a thriving rookery for brown pelicans and other birds in 2010 to a patch of brown lifeless sticks in 2011.

The trip was a reminder that Mississippi River Delta restoration is needed now more than ever. While the Senate passed the RESTORE Act as part of its transportation bill, the House has yet to act.