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

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)

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.

Speak Up for Gulf Restoration

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Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard, Deepwater Horizon response.

BP returned to profit with a bang last year, posting net earnings of $23.9 billion on Tuesday, as the British energy giant prepared for a criminal trial over the US Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. … [H]igher oil prices offset a drop in production, according to a group statement.

The London-listed energy major also signalled its recovery by hiking its shareholder dividend for the first time since the devastating April 2010 spillage that ravaged the company’s fortunes.

BP’s profits in the final three months of 2011 alone reached $7.69 billion. Combined, the five biggest oil companies made a record-high $137 billion in profits in 2011.

BP also reported $14 billion in cash on hand, and its CEO made clear he’s ready to pursue an Exxon Mobil-style legal strategy. “As I have said before, we are prepared to settle if we can do so on fair and reasonable terms, but equally, if this is not possible, we are preparing vigorously for trial,” said Bob Dudley.

NWF Staff Photo

BP has pledged to spend $500 million on marketing over the next two years and has spent millions on lobbying Congress.

Meanwhile, Congress still hasn’t passed the RESTORE Act, bipartisan legislation to dedicate BP’s fines and penalties to Gulf restoration.

Congress must act to make sure BP’s fines and penalties are dedicated to Gulf restoration, rebuilding critical wildlife habitat. Help protect the Gulf’s brown pelicans by urging Congress to pass the RESTORE Act now.

For the first time, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has just released a catalog of bird species impacted by the Gulf oil disaster. The information is being released in the wake of a National Wildlife Federation Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the data.

Laughing gulls, brown pelicans & northern gannets are the species with the highest totals of dead birds. You can see today’s report (PDF) and see future updates at the FWS Deepwater Horizon Response.

It’s unclear at this point why the FWS report lists only 4,676 birds, while the latest Deepwater Horizon Response Consolidated Fish & Wildlife Report lists 8,009 birds.

FWS only released the data a little over an hour ago, so NWF scientists haven’t had time to conduct an in-depth review of the data yet. However, I just spoke with Dr. Doug Inkley, NWF’s senior scientist, who told me his first impression was that with dozens of species listed, it’s clear that a wide diversity of shorebirds were impacted by the Gulf oil disaster.

Once oiled birds are brought to shore in Louisiana, they’re taken to Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, just north of Venice. The birds are washed, rinsed & rehabbed by Tri-State Bird Rescue.

On Wednesday, National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski & I decided to stay on shore for the day. We visited Fort Jackson to get an inside look. As we entered the facility, I took out my Flipcam & just let it roll:

As our tour wrapped up, I caught up with David to get his impression:

Outside the rehab building, cleaned birds are then re-acclimated to the outdoors for 7-10 days before being released away from the disaster zone:

As I type, David is driving us to Myrtle Grove Marina for another day on the water. It’s good know that any wildlife we find will be in good hands.

Help ensure NWF has the funding needed to be on the front lines helping wildlife >>
 

For all the latest news on how the oil spill is impacting the Gulf Coast’s wildlife & to learn how you can help, visit NWF.org/OilSpill.

Today, the Obama administration said its latest estimates show the gusher could be pumping as much as 2.4 million gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, Louisiana officials are outraged at the discovery of broken brown pelican eggs:

A Plaquemines Parish cleanup crew discovered broken eggs and crushed chicks on Queen Bess Island on Tuesday, and parish leaders are blaming BP workers cleaning up the oil spill for the damage.

“The people BP sent out to clean up oil trampled the nesting grounds of Brown Pelicans and other birds,” said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. [...]

“Pelicans just came off the endangered species list in November of last year. They already have the oil affecting their population during their reproduction time, now we have the so called clean up crews stomping eggs,” Nungesser said. [...]

“The lack of urgency and general disregard for Louisiana’s wetlands and wildlife is enough to make you sick,” Nungesser said.

View pictures of the eggs at WWL-TV’s website.

Help ensure NWF has the funding needed to be on the front lines helping wildlife >>
 

For all the latest news on how the oil spill is impacting the Gulf Coast’s wildlife & to learn how you can help, visit NWF.org/OilSpill.

You can view the photos of oiled brown pelicans at Examiner.com. As is becoming a habit here at Wildlife Promise when it comes to BP oil disaster photos, I have to warn you they’re extremely disturbing. Me, I want to see the worst so I can fight my hardest to make sure this never happens again. But that doesn’t make them any easier to look at.