A pair of bald eaglets in West Newbury, MA (MA Energy & Environmental Affairs on Flickr)

Success Story

First, the good news. Massachusetts announced this week that bald eagles, once completely wiped out in the state, are now soaring to a strong comeback:

Officials from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) verified 30 active nests in the Commonwealth, including eight nests along the Connecticut River, six at the Quabbin Reservoir and four along the Merrimack River during Massachusetts’ first Bald Eagle nesting survey. The survey, coordinated by the DFG’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) and involving agency staff and 35 volunteers, was conducted on April 5, 2013.

In addition to the principal bald eagle nesting territories along the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers and at Quabbin Reservoir, other active nests were observed at Wachusett Reservoir, and in the towns of Framingham, Brookfield, Pittsfield, Webster, Middleborough, Fall River and Plymouth. One nest failure was reported at Assawompsett Pond in Lakeville, where the wind blew a nest and two eggs out of the nest tree in early April. Additional eagle sightings were reported in Arlington, Carver, Lunenburg, Russell, Sandisfield and along the Housatonic River.

Bald eagles, the largest bird of prey native to Massachusetts with a body length of about 3 feet and a wingspan of up to seven feet, have increased in numbers in Massachusetts since being reintroduced to the Quabbin Reservoir between 1982 and 1988. The species was down listed from Endangered to Threatened status in Massachusetts in 2011 and removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007.

To report a bald eagle sighting in Massachusetts, email the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program natural.heritage@state.ma.us.

Mercury’s Threat to Bald Eagles

Bald eagles, our national symbol & once common across North America, were pushed to the brink of extinction by the pesticide DDT, pollution from heavy metals like mercury, hunting, habitat loss, and other factors. While we stopped using DDT, banned hunting, and restored what Aldo Leopold called our land ethic, mercury pollution remains a major threat to bald eagles.

Heavy metals are emitted through the burning of fossil fuels and are washed to our waterways, then bioaccumulate in predators at the top of the food chain:

• If a small fish eats 50 mercury contaminated plants.
• And a large fish eats 100 small fish
• And an eagle eats 100 large fish.
• 50 x 100 x 100 = 250,000. The concentration of mercury in the eagle is 250,000 times larger than it was in the plankton.

It’s not uncommon for sick bald eagles to test positive for mercury poisoning.

Presenting Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, with comments from NWF’s activists.

A Fighter for Wildlife

That’s why it’s so critical for America’s wildlife that Gina McCarthy is confirmed as Environmental Protection Agency administrator as soon as possible. She has a long track record of experience limiting mercury pollution at both the state and federal levels, working for both Democrats and Republicans. Appointed by Gov. William Weld (R-MA) to be executive director of the administrative council at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, McCarthy ran the nation’s largest pollution prevention program, called the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Program.

Then working as head of the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation, McCarthy oversaw development of the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) setting emission limits for power plants in order to reduce mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution. The MATS rule will not only protect wildlife, it will deliver huge public health benefits for Americans, preventing up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks every single year.

But polluter allies in Congress are working hard to block Gina McCarthy’s confirmation. Republicans on the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee refused to even show up for a vote, delaying McCarthy’s confirmation indefinitely. “Given Gina McCarthy’s long record of non-partisan public service, it’s inexcusable for her nomination to be politicized by senators prioritizing industrial polluters over public health protection,” said Larry Schweiger, president & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. Some of those senators did, however, make time that same morning for fundraisers with lobbyists for big polluters like BP & Exxon Mobil.

Ask your senators to protect wildlife by giving Gina McCarthy a clean vote.

Bob Allpress says Nebraska DEQ left his entire farm, including this federally protected Bald Eagle nest, out of its Keystone XL pipeline review

That’s right, the revised route—the one TransCanada told us we could trust to protect our wildlife, public lands and clean water.

National Wildlife Federation has already reported extensively on how tar sands production threatens Canada’s caribou and wolves. But America’s wildlife is also threatened by Keystone XL, as Big Oil’s rush to pad corporate profits bumps up against America’s conservation values.

Nebraska Landowner Sounds the Alarm

Bob Allpress, the Nebraska landowner who raised the red flag in testimony last month, charges that the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (the state agency tasked with examining the route through Nebraska) failed in their responsibility.

“Even though I contacted the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality several times, nobody from the DEQ ever contacted us nor inspected the route through our farm,” says Bob, who lives in Naper, NE. “If this report is this flawed within two miles of the South Dakota border, the entire report is suspect.”

After the DEQ ignored Allpress, NWF reached out to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which contacted the U.S. State Department and asked them to shift the route away from this eagle’s nest and impose mitigation measures to protect eagles in the area. It remains to be seen whether the State Department will do.

TransCanada, the company trying to build the Keystone XL pipeline, might find a way around this particular problem—they may decide to re-route the pipeline a few hundred feet around the nest, or just build through the area and assume the eagles will find another home. But the bottom line is that TransCanada and the Nebraska DEQ failed to spot this problem when they had the chance, and it took a landowner and an outcry from conservation groups to even bring this problem to light.

New Route for Keystone XL Pipeline Just as Dangerous?

Bald eagles are back from the brink of extinction, but the tar sands industry has visions of dollar bills clouding their patriotism. (Photo: Art Goldenberg)

How President Obama responds will give us a clear view of his true priorities and determine—perhaps more than any other decision he makes—his conservation legacy.

The decision to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline is currently up to President Obama and the U.S. State Department, who must review the project and decide whether to allow it to go forward.

Obama rejected the original permit application early in 2012, based mainly on concerns about damage to the Ogallala aquifer and other crucial resources in Nebraska. National Wildlife Federation and our partner groups in Nebraska are deeply troubled by the lack of consideration given so far to climate change and wildlife impacts, and the revised route still poses serious problems for the aquifer.

“Why are we risking our water—the main source of our state’s economy—for a foreign export pipeline?” asks Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska.

More Wildlife Species at Risk

In addition to Keystone’s game-changing (or if you believe NASA’s James Hansen, game-ending) effect on global carbon emissions, wildlife is at particular risk from tar sands development, pipeline spills and construction:

• In the event of a spill in Nebraska, the iconic sandhill cranes that migrate in vast numbers through the Platte River valley would be exposed to toxins like benzene. And at every river crossing along Keystone XL’s 2,000 mile route, fish habitat would be destroyed and the riparian system disturbed.
• Until earlier this year, it was official policy in Canada to hunt down and poison gray wolves as a “solution” to caribou habitat loss; a public outcry led by NWF caused the Alberta provincial government enough embarrassment to rethink that practice.
• Whooping cranes and hundreds of other species of migratory birds are seeing their northern nesting grounds bulldozed on an unprecedented scale as the oil industry expands its footprint in the Canadian tar sands region.
• The million-gallon Enbridge pipeline tar sands spill in Michigan killed or poisoned blue herons, muskrats, turtles, and dozens of other species. Yet we still don’t have state or federal laws requiring agencies to consider the unique impacts of tar sands spills, and according to Prof. John Stansbury of the University of Nebraska, “The bottom line is that a thorough and adequate study of the impacts has not been done [to date], and that includes the DEQ report.”

According to Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, “Bald eagle recovery is one of America’s great conservation success stories, something we can all be proud of. But oil companies’ priorities are so skewed that they can’t even be troubled to take wildlife into account. This situation is a reminder that the pipeline will affect wildlife from one end to the other.”

Tell the Obama Administration to reject Keystone XL and protect people and wildlife from dangerous tar sands!

Related Links:

• Learn more about bald eagles >>
• Check up on the Decorah Eagle Cam >>

We’ve done our best to update our posts and provide answers to your questions, but we know some remain. So, we’ve asked National Wildlife Federation’s naturalist Dave Mizijewski to stop by for a live Q&A session. On Thursday (May 31) at 1 pm EDT, Dave will join us for an hour to give you the scoop on eagles and their young.

Dave has a lifelong fascination with nature and wildlife, holds a degree in Human and Natural Ecology from Emory University and is an expert on wildlife, our environment and green lifestyles. You might recognize him from his appearances on The Today Show.

Do you want to pose a question about eagles? You can do so in a number of ways. You can leave a comment here on this page, and we’ll forward those questions to Dave before the chat begins. Or, you can bookmark this page, and return for the live session. You don’t have to register or anything (though you can sign in using Facebook or Twitter).

Eagle Cam is Back! Watch Iowa Bald Eagle Eggs Hatching Live

Decorah Bald Eagles (UStream screen shot)

February 18 – Did you join us last year as we watched two Iowa bald eagles care for newly hatched eagle chicks? Thanks to the Raptor Resource Center, the eagle cam we all came to love is back!  Join the National Wildlife Federation family again this year as we watch the eagles hatch and grow!

Who operates and maintains this eagle cam?

The Raptor Resource Project maintains the cams, of which there are two. The feed is streamed online 24/7. Both are positioned on one of the nest’s supporting limbs about 4-5 feet above the nest. The main cam is automated and is trained on the nest. The other cam has pan-tilt-zoom capabilities. At dark the main cam switches to infrared (invisible to the eagles) night-time view.

NWF Pledges to Fight Heartland Institute Intimidation Campaign

February 21 – The National Wildlife Federation today received a cease and desist letter from the Heartland Institute demanding that all references to Heartland’s so-called “Denialgate” leaked internal documents be scrubbed from the National Wildlife Federation website. However, the letter makes no specific legal accusations and the Heartland Institute continues to refuse to say whether the documents are legitimate, whether its reported plan to infiltrate America’s schools is true, or who is funding it.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog discussed the documents posted to other sites in two posts, Koch-Funded Plan in Development to Teach K-12 Kids Global Warming isn’t Real and From the Heartland: An Inside Look at the Extreme Right’s War on K-12 Climate and Environmental Education. The Associated Press reported that David Wojick, the contractor cited in the documents as the author of a proposed climate disinformation campaign targeted at K-12 students, confirmed “the document was accurate about his project to put curriculum materials in schools that promote climate skepticism.”

EPA Permit Too Weak to Protect Great Lakes, U.S. Waters from Ballast Water Invaders

Zebra mussels

The organizations call on EPA to strengthen a proposed permit to regulate ballast water discharges from commercial vessels. The comment period on the permit ends today.

National Hunting, Angling Groups Applaud Move to Finalize Clean Water Act Guidance

February 23 – This week, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers submitted revised Clean Water Act guidance to the Office of Management and Budget. Sportsmen applaud this critical step in restoring important protections for America’s waters.

“These rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands are essential for hunting and angling, providing fish and wildlife habitat and an economic boost to local economies,” said Steve Moyer, vice president of government relations for Trout Unlimited. “Every year, millions of anglers spend $45 billion to fish in rivers, lakes and streams across the country. Together, hunting, angling, and wildlife watching contribute an estimated $122 billion to the economy annually.”

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• HTRnews.com: Groups say EPA ballast proposal too lenient
• Sheboygan Press: Environmentalists threaten suit over ballast rule
• Bridge MI: A plan to curb carp, before it’s too late
• Nola.com: Gulf of Mexico oil spill partial settlement would give Louisiana $13.5 million

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Update: The first egg hatched March 27, 2012. (Get a glimpse of the “D12″). Update: March 29, 2012 - Here’s footage of the emergence of “D13.” Stay tuned!

Symbolically Adopt a Bald Eagle

Help National Wildlife Federation in its efforts to protect the bald eagle and its habitat by adopting an eagle. Your adoption will go toward supporting NWF’s efforts with wildlife conservation, education and more. Adoption packages include a certificate, poster, bald eagle plush and more.

Adopt a bald eagle >>

Feb. 17, 2012: First egg is delivered (watch video)
Feb. 20, 2012: Second egg is delivered (watch video)
Feb 24, 2012: Third egg is delivered (watch video)

Who operates and maintains this eagle cam?

The Raptor Resource Project maintains the cams, of which there are two. The feed is streamed online 24/7. Both are positioned on one of the nest’s supporting limbs about 4-5 feet above the nest. The main cam is automated and is trained on the nest. The other cam has pan-tilt-zoom capabilities. At dark the main cam switches to infrared (invisible to the eagles) night-time view.

More Frequently Asked Questions About the Eagle Cam

See these frequently asked questions answered by the Raptor Resource Center.

How big is the nest?
5-6 feet across, about the same deep; it weighs about 1½ tons.

How old is the nest?
The eagles built it in 2007. A previous nest close by fell when a windstorm broke one of the branches.

Are these eagles banded?
No.

Which is the male and which is the female?
It is hard to tell the difference unless they are both on the nest. The female is larger than the male. This female has a ridge above her eyes that goes further back than on the male, and her eyes are surrounded by a greyish shadow; the male has a line around his eyes that makes them look “beadier.” Some think that the male’s head is “sleeker” than the female’s.

What is the history of this pair?
They have been together since the winter of 2007-2008. Her markings at that time indicated that she was about 4 years old. They successfully hatched and fledged 2 eaglets in 2008, then 3 in 2009, 3 more in 2010, and 3 more in 2011.

What is the area around the nest like?
The nest is in a cottonwood tree on private property near the Decorah Fish Hatchery (operated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources), on the banks of the babbling waters of Trout Run in extreme northeast Iowa.

Who does the panning, tilting, and zooming, and when does that happen?
Bob Anderson, Executive Director of Raptor Resource Project, switches to the pan-tilt-zoom cam when time and weather permit, and especially when there appears to be interesting activity in the nest.

What is the Raptor Resource Project?
Established in 1988, the non-profit Raptor Resource Project specializes in the preservation of falcons, eagles, ospreys, hawks, and owls. They establish and strengthen breeding populations of these raptors by creating, improving, and maintaining nests and nest sites. In addition to directly managing more than 23 falcon, eagle, and owl nest sites, the Raptor Resource Center provides training in nest site creation and management across the United States, reaching more than 85,000 people each year through lectures, education programs, and the web, and develop innovations in nest site management and viewing that bring people closer to the world around them. Check out the links to cams of many of the raptor nests that RRP manages.

Related Links

• Read an interview with Robert Anderson, the Director of the Raptor Resource Project, who helped set up the famous UStream video footage of the Decorah Bald Eagle, the #1 most watched live video stream of all time.
• Learn more about bald eagles from National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Library and find out how they are an Endangered Species Act success story.

Bighorn sheep pair on the shoulder of Mt. Everts in Yellowstone

Bighorn sheep rut in Yellowstone

Click here to view the embedded video.

Two bison during the annual rut in Hayden Valley in Yellowstone

A tender moment during the elk rut at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone

Scenes from the Yellowstone Elk Rut

Click here to view the embedded video.

A misguided mating attempt between two Pacific chorus frogs in Yosemite

Pacific chorus frogs at Gaylor Lake in Yosemite

Click here to view the embedded video.

River otter on the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley share a cutthroat trout

Canada geese pair on the Gardner River at the north entrance of Yellowstone

Two bald eagles in Lamar Valley in Yellowstone

Without warning, it’s the holiday time and I begin humming the 1963 classic, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Written by Eddie Pola and George Wyle, and performed by Andy Williams, this Christmas song perfectly sums up the holiday cheer that I experience each year: friends and family, and lots of food, caroling and parties.

Roosevelt Island Park in Washington, DC. Photo courtesy of WorldIslandInfo

And this year, my wish list for Santa Claus has drastically changed. I don’t want electronics, clothes or gift cards; instead, I want to see a bald eagle and wild ponies. And the best part about this wish list? It can come true!

5 places to see Bald Eagles and Wild Ponies this holiday season:

Roosevelt Island, Washington, DC
I know that our nation’s capital is not known for its wildlife –unless politicians count—but you would be surprised how many creatures call Theodore Roosevelt Island home. Named after our most conservation-minded president, this Potomac River island is open to visitors who can stroll through the marsh and woodlands and see deer, ducks and a variety of birds including bald eagles and great blue herons.

Located within the borders of D.C. but only accessible by land in Virginia, Roosevelt Island also offers hiking and biking trails for outdoor fun.

Wild ponies at Assateague Island National Seashore. Photo courtesy of Dean Wissing.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland
If your Santa wish list is like mine and a bald eagle sighting is #1, then the Blackwater National Wildlife Refugeis the best spot in the region. It’s the go-to place in Maryland to see an abundance of bald eagles not only in winter, but throughout the whole year.

The refuge hosts a healthy breeding population of bald eagles and high concentrations of wintering eagles drawn by migratory waterfowl each winter.

An American Bald Eagle perched on a tree in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service.

With 550 wilderness acres in 14 parcels known as the James River Park System, the James River offers visitors lots of animal varieties—see nesting bald eagles, a great blue heron rookery, cormorants, ospreys, hawks and maybe even a peregrine falcon.  Explorers of the James River could also encounter deer, beavers, river otters, foxes and coyotes.   

Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia
If you like birds, birds and more birds, then the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Lorton, Virginia is the place for you. The Refuge was created to protect bald eagle nesting, feeding and roosting habitats along the Potomac River. There’s also more than 1,200 nests for great blue herons, along with an endless variety of ducks—quack quack!

Enjoy the holiday season and don’t forget to take advantage of the wonderful wildlife in your backyard!

Wildlife-Friendly DMV: Keep it Local, Keep it Wild

‘Tis the Season from Wildlife Promise:

• 5 Gifts Birds Are “Tweeting” About This Holiday Season
• Shift Your Gift Into a Gift For Wildlife This Year
• Reindeer: 12 Fascinating Facts About These Amazing Creatures
• Habitat Certification and Other Gifts for Gardeners
• The Northern Cardinal: Find Out About the Bird That Most Symbolizes the Season

Clint Henderson

I recently had the pleasure to speak with Robert Anderson, the Director of the Raptor Resource Project, a non-profit wildlife preservation organization famous for its bird cams. The Raptor Resource Project has come a long way and in their 33 years of operation has gone from “breeding falcons” to “wildlife education.”

Decorah Bald Eagles (UStream screen shot)

Since then, the Raptor Resource Project has added a redtail hawk cam, the first ever turkey vulture cam, and supplanted the older bald eagle equipment with high definition cameras from 2M CCTV, which Bob says has “improved the video capability by light years.”  They are also in the midst of setting up two peregrine cams. , which Bob says has “improved the video capability by light years.” They are also in the midst of setting up two peregrine cams.

State-of-the-Art Technology

Bob Anderson and I discussed the technical aspects of his setup as well as the influence this footage has had on people across the globe. Bob has worked alongside Xcel Energy with bird cams at their plants across the country but, unfortunately, the limited bandwidth was causing streaming problems. In 2009 they decided it was time to start a new bird cam project.

With the assistance of Amy Reis, the webmaster at RRP, they integrated their 24/7 video feed with UStream, which now airs a stable of their high resolution live bird cam feeds. They use Adobe Flash Media Encoder, software used to stream audio and video in real time, to maintain high-quality streaming. Power flickers and other technical issues are alleviated with help from the UStream technicians, who work together with the techs that do the bird cams. Bob Anderson states, “They’ve been very cooperative. It would not be what it is today without UStream.”

The cameras used to record video are mostly PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) cameras from KT&C. These cameras can capture night time video, as well as day time, through the use of the cameras’ infrared technology. The KT&C KPT-ON10T is the camera used for the footage of the Decorah Bald Eagle at UStream.

Bumps in the Road

I asked Mr. Anderson how he has dealt with various issues that his team has encountered since they’ve started recording wildlife footage. He says, “Every situation is different. You need to make sure an electrical power source is nearby, or you may need to use solar powered cameras. You also need to take weather into account.” For instance, the PTZ camera will sometimes make noise when panning if the temperatures fall below 10F. Another consideration is the proximity of the cameras to the birds and their nest. “There was a slight issue with a poop-covered lens on two of our cameras. So now we monitor the nests from up higher to prevent such a mess,” Bob says.

The Work Pays off: Eagles are an Online Sensation

There is year-round interaction on the Decorah Eagle Cam video page with students, teachers, and other bird enthusiasts using UStream’s Check-in & Chat feature, even when there is very little action in the nest itself. Video views start to increase in early January, when there are increased visits to the nest and views skyrocket in early April when the eggs hatch.

I asked Bob what has been the most amazing footage captured to date. He replied, “The most stunning footage we captured to DVD is the 3rd egg hatching in great light. National Geographic will be using this footage in an upcoming documentary on the Mississippi River.” Bob enthusiastically states, “In total, there have been 186 [of the 196] countries in the world that have tuned in to watch the Decorah Eagle Cam.”

Mr. Anderson says he was shocked and encouraged at the impact the birdcams have had on people’s lives everywhere. It has affected many people in many different ways. It has made people with disabilities forget about their illnesses. It has given residents in nursing homes a reason to get up in the morning. Many classrooms have the video stream up constantly for students to see. Bob states, “The Decorah Eagle Cam is the single most important wildlife education effort on planet Earth.”

The efforts of the Raptor Resource Project and Director Bob Anderson have strengthened raptor populations and stimulated participation in raptor preservation internationally. Many have witnessed the active enthusiasm online and how viral this has become. The Birdcam community at the RRP even worked together to get a Decorah Eagle design on a NASCAR Sprint Cup car! Check it out, it’s pretty slick! (Link takes some time to load)

Bald Eagle (NWF File Photo/John C Moerk)

As the Yellowstone River oil spill cleanup continues in Montana, we’re learning more about its impacts on wildlife. An estimated 42,000 gallons of  crude oil spilled from an Exxon Mobil pipeline under the river on July 1.

Now the Environmental Protection Agency is reporting one of the latest victims is a bald eagle:

Cleanup crews over the weekend found an oiled bald eagle and pockets of black crude trapped by debris piles along the Yellowstone River.

Biologists believe the bald eagle won’t survive the winter unless it’s cleaned, said Karen Nelson with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Crews are working now to trap the bird so it can be treated.

Workers also have found four geese and a cooper’s hawk covered in oil. They’ve trapped one goose and are working to capture the others, Nelson said.

The number of dead wildlife also increased over the weekend. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported finding dead two great horned owls, a wood duck, two ducklings, two fish, a fox, a beaver and a bunting.

Of those animals, one of the owls, the wood duck, the ducklings and the fish were covered in oil. All the animals will be tested to discover the cause of death.

Meanwhile, the Billings Gazette reports fish downstream from the spill are showing signs of stress and even illness:

Flesh samples from the fish will be tested in state labs. But visibly, gills on some of the captured fish aren’t the bright pink they’re supposed to be, and some of the fish have lesions.

Frazer said it’s common for river fish to show certain levels of stress throughout the year because of parasites and other conditions fish naturally carry.

However, in the samples that have been collected, the fish captured above the spill site show far fewer signs of stress than those below, leading Frazer to believe that the spill has had an effect.

Only 20 Critters Harmed in Oil Spill? Misleading, Says NWF Scientist

And as National Wildlife Federation Senior Scientist Dr. Doug Inkley tells Public News Service, the impacts we see may only be the tip of the iceberg:

“We need to observe not only the fish, but the entire food chain. The fish depend on all these little invertebrates – little mayflies, nymphs and things of this type – and those are very susceptible.”

A U.S. Senate subcommittee held a hearing on the Yellowstone spill on Wednesday. Inkley testified earlier before a similar subcommittee hearing in the House, calling for stronger federal safety regulations. He says that’s critically important as the Keystone XL pipeline is considered, which would also cross the Yellowstone, as well as the Missouri River and hundreds of other waterways.

Oil Spills: Tragically Common

While the oil and gas industry likes to paint spills like this as an aberration, the National Wildlife Federation has documented that oil and gas disasters are tragically common. Now the oil industry wants to build a new pipeline cutting right through America’s heartland. The Keystone XL pipeline wouldn’t carry just any oil – it would carry tar sands, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet.

But we still have a chance to protect the people and wildlife along the proposed pipeline route. Please take a moment right now to ask President Obama to say no to tar sands.

My way of paying it forward has been to connect youth with nature and make it accessible to as many kids as possible. Here in DC, I’m accomplishing that as a leader for Inner City Outings (ICO), a part of the Sierra Club that engages inner city youth in outings to go hiking, camping, canoeing, etc. I leave each outing with a new understanding of how to be an effective outdoor leader, and I do most of my learning from the kids.

On a recent overnight camping trip with ICO middle schoolers I decided that kids are much better explorers than adults.

The eagle egg they found.

First, they ask a lot of questions. After our Saturday afternoon canoeing trip the kids came up to me and asked what kind of egg they found. I didn’t know the answer to their questions, but I didn’t want to discourage their inquiry. I guided the questions so that as a group we could determine what kind of egg it was. Which animals lay eggs? Do you think the bird is big or a small? This process, along with a field guide, helped us determine it was likely a bald eagle egg that had fallen from the nest.

My kids holding the snakeskin.

Second, they take time to really observe nature. While digging holes for our tree planting on Sunday, I looked around and noticed there weren’t any kids around me. I stopped to find them, and couldn’t help but smile. One was crawling around in the grass looking at a beetle, another had found a 4 foot snake skin, and two others were huddled over their freshly dug holes with earthworms squirming in their hands. The adults were so caught up in the tree planting we forgot to stop and observe the wonderful nature around us, but the kids took the time to explore.

Kids are incredible explorers because ask questions and take time to really observe nature – two things that are lost in a fast-paced world teeming with stimuli that we are eventually conditioned to ignore. As outdoor leaders, it is our responsibility to encourage questions and participation in the process of inquiry, instead of just giving answers, and to allow kids the time to stop and play. I learned the importance of going slow on hikes and giving youth unplanned time to simply explore nature.

The kids learning how to plant trees.