Moose photo by Rick Libbey

“The state’s moose population has been in decline for years but never at the precipitous rate documented this winter,” said Tom Landwehr, DNR commissioner. “This is further and definitive evidence the population is not healthy. It reaffirms the conservation community’s need to better understand why this iconic species of the north is disappearing from our state.”

The state’s annual hunting season isn’t a cause for the moose’s decline. Researchers last month began an ambitious research project to figure out what’s killing them off. Calves are dying at higher rates than normal and, more significantly, adult moose in their prime are dropping dead.

What was once a healthy population sustainable enough to allow hunting is now in rapid decline. The population in northeast Minnesota has been declining for years, from 8,840 in 2006 down to only about 2,760 counted in January 2013. While just 46 bull moose were harvested in 2012, the population plunged by nearly 1,500 moose from 2012 to 2013. Minnesota’s other population of about 4,000 moose in northwest Minnesota virtually disappeared over 20 years, with fewer than 100 remaining by the mid-2000s.

What’s Driving the Decline?

“This is a tragic collapse, but it isn’t a surprise,” says Dr. Doug Inkley, a wildlife biologist and the National Wildlife Federation’s senior scientist. “There are probably several factors affecting the population, but we know moose have trouble coping with hot weather, which has been on the rise in Minnesota. Stress factors, such as rising temperatures, can cause moose health to decline, making them  more vulnerable to disease and predators.”

The National Wildlife Federation highlighted the climate crisis’ impact on Minnesota moose just last week with the release of a new report, Wildlife in a Warming World:

Biologists attribute most of this decline to increasing temperatures: when it gets too warm moose typically seek shelter rather than foraging for nutritious foods needed to keep them healthy. They become more vulnerable to tick infestations, which have proliferated as the region has warmed. Ticks leave moose weakened from blood loss and with hairless patches where they tried to rub off the ticks. Without protective hair, these animals can die from cold exposure in the winter. Individual moose infested with 50,000 to 70,000 ticks—ten to twenty times more than normal—have been documented.

Signs of Struggle

Nationwide, it’s harder to get an exact gauge on the impact of climate change since moose have only recently returned to their historical range in some areas. Moose were once found as far south as Pennsylvania before over-hunting and habitat destruction wiped them out from much of the eastern United States. Populations in places like Massachusetts are still re-establishing a foothold.

But in New Hampshire, the impact of warmer temperatures on moose are clear and dire. Researchers say New Hampshire moose are literally being eaten alive by ticks. Moose there have to deal with 30,000 ticks at a time in a normal year, but in recent warm years, moose carry as many as 150,000 ticks. The moose die of anemia, a lack of healthy red blood cells. After the unseasonably warm winter in 2011, they think that it’s likely that all calves born the previous year were killed along with 40 percent of adults.

And then 2012 was America’s hottest year on record. In Michigan, where a moose have returned to the Upper Peninsula, efforts to count the population have been hampered by warm temperatures - without a covering of white snow, researchers can’t spot the brown moose from the air.

Time to Confront Climate Change

The climate crisis is already changing the playing field for wildlife and urgent action is needed to preserve America’s conservation legacy. Species that have spent thousands of years or more adapting to their ecosystems are now watching their homes transformed before their eyes. We must act now to cut carbon pollution, speed our transition to clean energy, and safeguard America’s ecosystems and communities.

Congress hasn’t shown much interest in tackling the climate crisis, but the Obama Administration can take a number of steps, like using Clean Air Act authority to limit carbon pollution from new and existing power plants, rejecting the dirty Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and ensuring the budget fights ahead do not slash critical investments in clean energy.

Speak up for wildlife by urging President Obama to limit carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants.

Photo by Mila Zinkova via Wikimedia Commons.

It’s happening again – Big Oil is using deceptive tactics to confuse the public about climate science. And this time, the attack threatens polar bears. We need your help to see through their smokescreen and to stand up for the truth.

Let’s go step by step to understand the attack, why it’s happening, and how we can fight back together.

The Strategy

A federal agency is looking into compliance with procurement process regulations, so global warming must not be happening and we can stop protecting polar bears. No, really – that’s what climate science-denying polluter front groups are claiming.

It’s become a familiar pattern, most recently repeated in the illegally hacked climate scientist email story:

• Take a complicated story most people don’t fully understand yet and make wild, completely unsubstantiated claims about what it means.
• Target individual scientists with personal attacks, leaving other advocates of scientific truth fearful of speaking out and being the next victim.
• Urge journalists to report to the controversy, leaving the public confused.

By the time the truth comes out, it’s too late – just enough doubt has been sowed to keep the profits rolling in.

The Attack

In the latest version, polluter groups are attacking the work of Dr. Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist whose heartbreaking observations (pdf) documented polar bears’ vulnerability to the global warming-fueled retreat of summer Arctic sea ice.

His research was apparently the first documentation of polar bears drowning at sea on long swims. The study is part of a mountain of evidence that led to polar bears being listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (though the National Wildlife Federation argues they should be considered endangered).

“When it comes to science demonstrating the threat to polar bears posed by global warming, this study is only the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. “The latest major study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey further documents that on long swims to receding Arctic sea ice, some bear cubs are disappearing, and their mothers burn much-needed calories. So far, 2011 is no exception – the Arctic’s summer sea ice is at record-low levels.”

Big Oil’s strategy reveals much more about its own shameful lack of integrity as it does about Dr. Monnett’s work. That’s because the federal agency itself says its probe has “nothing to do with scientific integrity,” instead focusing on contract questions:

Some new details have emerged in the mysterious case of Charles Monnett, the government wildlife biologist under investigation by the Department of Interior’s Inspector General. When Monnett, who works for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) in Alaska, was placed on adminstrative leave last month pending an investigation into unspecified “integrity issues,” there was speculation that the probe was linked to the biologist’s 2006 paper on polar bear deaths in the Arctic. But a spokeswoman for BOEMRE insisted last week that the investigation has “nothing to do with scientific integrity, his 2006 journal article, or issues related to permitting, as has been alleged.”

On Tuesday, Monnett’s legal representatives at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) released a memorandum that the IG’s office issued to the biologist last Friday indicating that its investigation centers on the procurement process for a research project on “Populations and Sources of Recruitment in Polar Bears.” The University of Alberta in Canada is the lead organization on the ongoing study, but BOEMRE provided a substantial portion of the funding. The agency ordered to the university to “cease and desist” all work on the study five days before Monnett was suspended in mid-July. [NWF Update: Suspension has since been lifted.]

The IG’s memo to Monnett requests an August 9 meeting to discuss “compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations, disclosure of personal relationships, and preparation of the scope of work.”

Here’s just one example of how Big Oil’s allies have been executing their smokescreen strategy. The New York Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation) ran an op-ed on Tuesday claiming BOEMRE’s probe–again, BOEMRE itself now says it has nothing to do with the polar bear study– saying that while “the specifics of the investigation are as yet unclear,” we can safely leap to the conclusion that climate science itself is in question. Sound familiar?

The article was written by Matt Patterson of a polluter front group called “Capital Research Center.” The CRC has received $265,000 from Exxon Mobil since 1998 according to ExxonSecrets.org, along with millions more from organizations built with polluter profits like the Sciafe Foundations. Like many polluter front groups, the CRC had extensive ties to the tobacco industry before moving on to climate science denial.

What, you expected Exxon Mobil to attack climate and polar bear science directly? That’s not how it works. Polluters pay front groups to do it for them, so instead of coming from a big, bad oil company, the attacks appear to be coming from a dispassionate third party.

The Motive

Why is attacking the science connecting polar bears and global warming so critical for these polluter front groups? Oil companies have been pushing relentlessly to drill in the Arctic, not only in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – which the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has designated under the Endangered Species Act as critical polar bear habitat. Given the rock-solid scientific evidence, Big Oil knows it can’t win a fair debate, so it needs to resort to smokescreens and personal attacks to have any shot at drilling.

“The BP Gulf oil disaster reminds us that offshore drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, such as critical habitat for polar bears and other Arctic species, is simply not worth the risk,” says Dr. Doug Inkley.

via Norbert Rossing

Fight Back for Polar Bears

Legislation in Congress right now would gut the Endangered Species Act, and cripple the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect wildlife, clean air and water. Please take a moment to ask your members of Congress to stop this attack threatening polar bears.

Once you do, please pass this post along to your friends using the share, tweet and like buttons at the bottom of this post, or just email the link to your friends. The more people know about Big Oil’s deceptive tactics, the stronger our case will be for protecting polar bears.

1. Highlight of the Week: Science Solid, America’s Polar Bears on Thin Ice
2. Quote: Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
3. Economic Story of the Week: Speeding Towards Fuel Efficiency
4. Editorial of the Week: Climate Change & the Plight of the Whitebark Pine
5. Capps for Clean Air
6. Schweiger Says: Will Someone Ask If News Corp. Was Behind Hacked Climate Emails?
7. Preview: Study: Climate-Induced Weather Extremes and the Future for Indian Country
8. Debt Deal, No Deal for Climate
9. Happening this Week

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Highlight of the Week

Science Solid, America’s Polar Bears on Thin Ice

credit: Mark Wexler

The Bureau of Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has reportedly placed on administrative leave Dr. Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist, pending an internal investigation into “integrity issues.” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has alleged the query is a “political attempt to impugn [Dr. Monnett’s] observations on polar bears’ vulnerability to retreating sea ice.”

Dr. Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, said:

“When it comes to science demonstrating the threat to polar bears posed by global warming, this study is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s a massive body of established scientific evidence showing receding Arctic sea ice is putting polar bears in greater danger with each passing year.

“The latest major study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey only deepened concern, documenting long swims to Arctic summer sea ice put polar bear cubs at risk of drowning and force mothers to burn needed calories. So far, 2011 is no exception – the Arctic’s summer sea ice is at record-low levels.

“The terrible plight of polar bears due to climate change is based on decades of outstanding science that is absolutely irrefutable. Should BOEMRE, the agency responsible for handing out Arctic drilling permits, conduct its own investigation into Arctic polar bear science?”

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Quote:

via Center for American Progress Action Fund

“The weather is getting worse and more violent. Catastrophic, in fact. The federal government needs to do more to be ready to protect federal assets and provide disaster assistance on an increasing frequency…We’ve stopped talking about this on Capitol Hill. We’ve decided that the debate over global warming is too contentious. I think it’s a big mistake.”

- Senator Dick Durbin, Chair, Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and Government.

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Economic Story of the Week

Speeding Towards Fuel Efficiency

President Obama has announced new fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks that would double the current requirement to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025, resulting in a dramatic reduction in America’s oil dependence and carbon pollution.

“Whether you’re a commuter in a compact car or a sportsman who needs a pickup truck, every American deserves access to the most fuel-efficient, technologically-advanced vehicles that save them money, cut pollution and deliver great performance,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “These rules are an important step toward reducing our billion-dollar-a-day addiction to imported oil, money that stronger fuel efficiency standards will keep at home to invest in job creation here in America.”

The new standards would raise car fuel efficiency standards 5 percent annually between 2017 and 2025, while light trucks would be required to reach an annual gain of 3.5 percent between 2017 and 2021, and 5 percent between 2022 and 2025.

“A broad range of interests – from automakers to unions to conservationists – has come together behind these new rules,” said Schweiger. “The technology is ready, the standards are achievable and poll after poll shows the American people strongly support getting the job done. We all benefit from robust standards to cut our oil dependence, create American jobs, and protect wildlife and public health, and we stand ready to defend these gains from extremist, politically-motivated attacks.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Editorial of the Week

Climate Change & the Plight of the Whitebark Pine

(NY Times)

via Miguel Vieira/Flickr

For centuries, the whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, has grown on hundreds of thousands of acres across the West. It is a keystone species of an entire ecosystem — one now seriously at risk. Most of the whitebark pines in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks are dead. It has been declared an endangered species in Canada. And, last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the whitebark pine “warranted” listing as threatened or endangered, making it one of the very few species officially acknowledged as threatened by climate change. The tragedy is the ongoing demise of an ecosystem, one for which humans are culpable. What looks, from the air, like a plagued forest has been plagued by the choices we have made over the past century.

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Capps for Clean Air

NWF & Congresswoman Capps Speak out for Clean Air

A press conference was held on Capitol Hill last week in support of an amendment to the House Environment and Interior Appropriations bill that would protect people and wildlife by striking a rider in the bill that delays the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to limit mercury and other harmful air toxics emitted from power plants.

The amendment, introduced by Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) would allow the EPA to set standards for dangerous air pollution that will save thousands of lives each year and reduce 90 percent of mercury that is emitted from coal-fired power plants. Mothers in Congress spoke at the event, including Rep. Lois Capps, Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), all expressing concern about the effects of mercury on children and women of child bearing age. Mercury is especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses; exposure affects a child’s ability to walk, talk, read, write and learn.

The American Lung Association is also using a nation-wide television campaign to urge Congress not to support policy that, according to Senator Harry Reid, would bring America back to “the robber-baron era where there were no controls on pollution from power plants, oil refineries and factories.”

The EPA is currently accepting public comments on a proposed rule to limit mercury and air toxics from power plants. Click here to take action.

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Will Someone Ask If News Corp. Was Behind Hacked Climate Emails?

Will the media finally start asking if Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. was connected to the illegal hacking of climate scientist emails?

It’s been frustrating that for all the rightful attention paid to The News of the World phone hacking scandal, virtually no journalist has been willing to ask if News Corp.’s lawbreaking extended into email hacking.

Given how quickly the stolen emails were handed to climate science deniers who were then immediately featured on Fox News, it’s a fair question to ask.

When the hacked emails were subject to independent investigation, climate scientists were vindicated. But given the clear as well as alleged connections between Scotland Yard and News Corp. in recent news, there’s been no similar independent investigation of who stole the emails in the first place. And as much as journalists were eager to report to the controversy on the emails, they’ve shown little interest in tracking down the thieves.

Read more from NWF CEO and president Larry Schweiger, here.

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Preview Study: Climate-Induced Weather Extremes and the Future for Indian Country

via NWF

The National Wildlife Federation is releasing a new report on the disproportionate impacts of climate change on North American Indian Tribes. North American Indian Tribes are especially harmed by climate change, as more ecological shifts and more frequent, more extreme weather events occur. Because Tribes are heavily dependent on natural resources, severe weather events like droughts, floods, wildfires, and snowstorms make tribal communities particularly vulnerable and impact American Indians and Alaska Natives more than they impact the general population.

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Debt Deal, No Deal for Climate

Legislation to raise the debt ceiling and cut federal spending passed Congress today and was signed into law by President Obama. The deal imposes discretionary budget program caps, resulting in reductions for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies that focus on conservation and little chance of attaching a tax on carbon pollution to pay down the deficit. The Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House last congress and Senator John Kerry’s climate proposal were both deficit reducers.

According to Climate Progress there have been 110 anti-environmental votes taken since the 112th Congress began with 20 related to climate change, 28 on air and water pollution, and 22 on clean energy. Click here to take action and tell your Congressperson to stop the attacks on our health, wildlife and the nation’s national resources.

“The deal to resolve the Congressional debt ceiling crisis and avoid the catastrophe of a national default is clearly a relief for America,” said NWF president and CEO Larry Schweiger. “But moving forward, members of Congress must remember the heavier a burden our conservation programs are forced to bear in the short term, the higher a risk we face in the long term – not just in higher public health costs, but in jeopardizing the wildlife and special places that generations of Americans have protected and handed down to their children and grandchildren.”

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Happening this Week

Wednesday, August 3

Teleconference and Report Release: Climate Change Hurts Indian Tribes Disproportionately, 12 PM EST, email Weinmanna@nwf.org for more information

Hearing on energy tax policy reform, Ways and Means, 10:00 AM, 1100 Longworth

Hearing on five public lands bills, Energy and Natural Resources, 2:30 PM, 366 Dirksen

Thursday, August 4

Proposed DC Biodiesel Plant and the Environment, DC Environmental Network, 12PM, Global Green USA, 1100 15th Street NW, 11th Floor , RSVP for the August 4th DCEN Event Here!

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For more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.

via Tollers/Flickr

This heat wave is bad!  The eastern U.S. is suffering through stifling heat and humidity, which have caused 22 deaths already.  The U.S. Weather Service says heat is the number one weather-related killer in the country, claiming more lives each year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined.

Had enough? Climate experts warn that our future will be hotter because of greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming.

Hotter is the New Normal

Recent National Wildlife Federation reports paint a deathly hot future unless we take immediate action to reduce global warming pollution. Summers like the current one, or even worse, will become the norm by 2050 if global warming pollution continues to increase unabated. For example, Washington, D.C.,  which has a historical average of fewer than 30 days annually over 90°F, is projected to have 55 to 100 days annually over 90°F by midcentury, depending upon how much emissions are curbed.  Absent significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the story would be much the same across the U.S.

It’s not just humans taking the heat.  It’s bad news for bears, too.

Swim for Survival

via Howard Ruby/NWF

WARNING:  As a colleague just said to me, the following information “is something that will make you cry.”

Polar bears are being forced to swim very long distances because of melting sea ice due to climate change, which can be deadly for their cubs.  A new study shows that when mother polar bears had no choice but to swim long distances to reach the safety of sea ice or land, nearly half of their cubs simply didn’t survive! Polar bears are outstanding swimmers, but scientists warn that these long-distance marathon swims  –some more than 400 miles and lasting up to 12 days— puts them at risk of drowning, not to mention severe exhaustion if they survive.

And Arctic ice conditions are as bad as ever.  This spring and summer, the amount of Arctic ice has been at or just below the record low of 2007.   But it’s not just polar bears…global warming is the single biggest threat to wildlife across the planet.

Clearly, it is time for Congress to take long-overdue action to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions and put us on a path to a clean energy future.  That would be good for us, and finally some good news for bears.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sound crazy? But according to Greenwire (sub. req.), that’s what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continues to tell scientists in its Sea Grant research program – they can talk about our problems, but they can’t talk about solutions:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced it will continue to distribute guidance that discourages scientists receiving Sea Grant research grants from speaking out on “issues of public debate,” despite a petition from an advocacy group to reverse the “gag rule.”

NOAA rejected a petition from the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility that asked the agency to alter their guidance related to the National Sea Grant College Program which funds scientific research. The guidance tells recipients of marine research grants to avoid advocacy “at all costs” — a policy that forces academics to keep quiet or risk losing their funding, according to PEER.

“Gagging scientists is bad enough, but the policy’s vagueness makes it even worse,” said Dr. Doug Inkley, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior scientist. “At a time when scientists are increasingly coming under political attack, it opens a gaping hole for a witch hunt about where scientists cross the line into ‘advocacy’. It doesn’t serve society well that the scientific experts on an issue are excluded from making management/policy recommendations in their area of expertise.”

Oil seen off Louisiana, June 2011

UPDATE 6/9/11: Test results from a National Wildlife Federation sample indicate the oil is NOT stirred-up BP oil, but rather a fresh spill.

Staffers in the National Wildlife Federation’s Coastal Louisiana office were tipped off to newly-seen weathered oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico today. It’s not clear yet how much oil is on the surface or where it came from, but early indications point to sunken BP oil that’s been stirred up:

The oil was spotted two miles east-southeast from Baptiste Collete, which is across the Mississippi River from Venice, according to [Plaquemines Parish President Billy] Nungesser, by a charter fishing captain. The parish’s port vessel is en route to the where the oil was reported, said Nungesser.

The Coast Guard is sending up a helicopter to fly over the area, according to Petty Officer Steve Lehmann.

“It looks like the same oil that has been surfacing in Bay Jimmy,” said Nungesser, who was sent pictures of the oil early Wednesday morning. “It doesn’t look like new, fresh oil.”

We’re eager to hear what the Coast Guard finds and will keep you updated here at Wildlife Promise. But the reports do fit predictions since the first days of the Gulf oil disaster that while millions of gallons of chemical “dispersant” helped put the BP oil out of sight, much of it still lurks below.

“We know weathered BP oil still sits on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico and will for years or even decades to come,” says Dr. Doug Inkley, National Wildlife Federation senior scientist who viewed oil in Gulf marshes in April. Doug has been also been monitoring continuing higher rates of death for Gulf dolphins and sea turtles. “Even as coastal wetlands and ecosystems remain vulnerable to stirred-up BP oil, Congress has still not dedicated BP fines and penalties to restoration of the Gulf.”

Some additional information on today’s reports of oil from SkyTruth:

That would put it in Buras Bayou, on the edge of the Delta National Wildlife Refuge where a Chevron/BP pipeline spilled 18,000 gallons of crude oil in early April 2010, causing widespread contamination.  There is no word yet on the possible source of the latest oil slick.

Two pollution reports were submitted to the National Response Center at 10:17 am on June 6 (report #978778) and again at 10:58 am yesterday morning (report #978893) indicating small amounts of oil spilled from a platform operated by Helis Oil and Gas Company about 20 miles to the northwest. We don’t know if this is the source of the slick being reported today near Venice. Yesterday afternoon’s low-resolution MODIS satellite imagery doesn’t indicate anything unusual in that area.  We’ll keep looking.

Speak Up for Gulf Restoration

Please take a moment right now to ask your members of Congress to pass oil disaster response legislation that devotes fines and penalties to coastal wetlands restoration.

Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation’s response to the Gulf oil disaster at NWF.org/OilSpill.

Dr. Doug Inkley, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior scientist, took the message on CNN’s American Morning:

Later in the morning, the coalition held a news conference with Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) asking for Congressional action to restore the Gulf. After the event, Capt. Dave Marino led a trip out to Bay Jimmy to see oil that remains in coastal marshes and questionable efforts to remove it:

“Last month, they were scoopin’ it by hand. The month before that, they were vacuuming oil. There’s a lot of different things going on, but the oil is still here,” Marino said.

“I’m not sure we need to lose more wetlands. We need to restore wetlands,” said National Wildlife Federation President Larry Schweiger.

In the evening, NWF’s Larry Schweiger and Land Tawney closed the day by joining with Ducks Unlimited to lead a tele-town hall conference to mark the one-year memorial of the Gulf oil disaster and discuss its effects on wildlife and habitats. More than 5,000 people dialed in to hear what they can do to help the Gulf’s people and wildlife recover.

Once the day’s work was done, the NWF team gathered for dinner at a New Orleans restaurant for some hard-earned gumbo. I’d been up at 3am to drive to Myrtle Grove Marina with Dr. Inkley for his television appearance, so I was wiped out. I was happy to sit back, enjoy an Abita beer, and listen to the conversation.

But even though we’d all been going full-speed all day, Larry Schweiger and David Muth, NWF’s coastal Louisiana state director, were still having a passionate debate about the best ways to spark action on restoring coastal wetlands. Even though Washington still hasn’t fulfilled its promises to make the Gulf whole, it gave me hope that the restoration movement has committed leaders who won’t rest until the job is done.

Speak Up for Gulf Restoration

Please take a moment right now to ask your members of Congress to pass oil disaster response legislation that devotes fines and penalties to coastal wetlands restoration.

Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation’s response to the Gulf oil disaster at NWF.org/OilSpill.

So far, we’re far removed from any sign of the disaster. In fact, we shared a rental car shuttle with three guys arriving for a sport fishing trip. “Did you see their fishing pole case?” Doug asked me. “I think that cost more than my actual fishing pole.”

But first thing Tuesday morning, we’ll south to Myrtle Grove Marina, heading out on a small boat in search of lingering oil impacts in Louisiana’s wetlands. Our plan is to visit Bay Jimmy, then head out to Cat Island, prime breeding grounds for brown pelicans.

Before we get to see the oil’s impacts one year on, I thought I’d take a look back at some videos from our time in the Gulf last year. Here’s Dr. Inkley visiting a brown pelican rookery:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I got to join a boat that went out onto the oil slick itself, to within a few miles of the Deepwater Horizon site:

Click here to view the embedded video.

On the way out, we saw this endangered sea turtle struggling in the oil (we caught it, washed it off and motored far away from the oil before releasing it):

Click here to view the embedded video.

A month later, I visited the Gulf once again and found that while the oil persisted, the area’s mood had changed:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As the one-year mark of the Deepwater Horizon disaster approaches, what impacts will we find? What’s changed? What still needs to be done? We’ll be posting updates here at NWF’s Wildlife Promise all week long.

Speak Up for Gulf Restoration

Please take a moment right now to ask your members of Congress to pass oil disaster response legislation that devotes fines and penalties to coastal wetlands restoration.

Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation’s response to the Gulf oil disaster at NWF.org/OilSpill.

National Wildlife Federation biologist Doug Inkley, Ph.D. has been fighting off a stink bug invasion for months now. His battles with the invasive pest are being chronicled on this blog and in the media. So far, he’s counted nearly 22,000 of them in his house…and even a few at work.

Good Morning America recently paid a visit to Dr. Inkley’s home and to the stink bugs that just won’t leave him alone.

In the video, the reporter says stink bugs smell like “cilantro on steroids.” National Wildlife Federation naturalist Dave Mizejewski might agree since he took a bite out of a stink bug taco. Fortunately, these insects don’t bite people, but many folks would agree that they sure do suck.

Dolphins ride boat's wake off Mississippi, May 2010 (by NWF's Jeremy Symons)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has updated its website on the ongoing dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico – and the news isn’t good.

“They are up to 145 stranded dolphins and 62 of those are babies. That’s up from 134 last week, with 59 babies,” reports Dr. Doug Inkley, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior scientist. “Because they aren’t releasing specific information about the individual animals found, it is a little hard to tell, but I can’t see any sign that there is a decline in this unusually high number of  total dolphin mortalities, although the proportion that are babies seems to be on the decline.”

Dr. Inkley says that so far in 2011, the dolphin death toll is at least 5 times higher than average.

The ongoing dolphin deaths aren’t the only concern for wildlife lovers right now. Reports say there’s now also a spike in the deaths of endangered sea turtles:

Since March 15, she noted, 39 deaths were confirmed in Mississippi, 4 in Alabama and 3 in Louisiana.

“The spring time is the typical time when turtle strandings in this region begin to increase,” Barclay added, “but the sharp increases in recent days are of concern.”

Sea turtle swims through oily gulf waters, May 2010

According to Dr. Inkley, endangered sea turtle stranding rates in March were 7 times higher than normal.

Only a fraction of marine life that dies of any cause will ever wash up on shore. But according to a new study, the number of dead dolphins and turtles that sink to the bottom of the ocean could be far higher than previously thought:

After analyzing historical data on populations and death rates of 14 species in the northern Gulf, the scientists determined that carcasses are found in only 2% of cetacean deaths.

“Thus, the true death toll could be 50 times the number of carcasses recovered, given no additional information,” they write, adding that they don’t know what the true figure is.

We’re still waiting to hear back on test results to see what might have killed these dolphins and turtles. Right now, scientists say the top suspects are:

• Unusually cold water in January & February
• Contamination from oil, dispersants, or both

Over the long run, the best thing we can do to help the Gulf’s wildlife survive is to commit to giving them a healthy place to live, feed, and raise their young.

Speak Up for Dolphins and Sea Turtles

Please take a moment right now to ask your members of Congress to pass oil disaster response legislation that devotes fines and penalties to coastal wetlands restoration.

Learn more about the National Wildlife Federation’s response to the Gulf oil disaster at NWF.org/OilSpill.