160-Square-Mile Oil Spill Fouls Mississippi Delta Wildlife Refuge

* Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Lloyd

From http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/crude_oil_spill_fouls_about_a.html

A crude oil spill covered about one-fifth of a remote national wildlife refuge near the mouth of the Mississippi River on Wednesday, and another 120 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said.

No affected birds or animals had been reported, and more than 50 people and 16 vessels were working Wednesday to clean up the spill from a pipeline through the Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Lt. Stephen Nutting said.

Nutting said the slick covered 16 square miles of the refuge, which comprises about 76 square miles of marshland between the Mississippi River and Breton Sound and the Gulf of Mexico. A 12-mile-wide slick stretched 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, he said.

Crews put 5,000 feet of containment boom around the slick and were putting out another 2,000 feet of boom around the environmentally sensitive area near Breton Island, Nutting said. He said skimmer boats had sucked up 600 gallons of oil.

A Berry Brothers General Contractors barge dredging for ExxonMobil U.S. Production Co. in the area notified the Coast Guard Tuesday about 1 a.m. that oil was spilling into a canal about 10 miles southeast of Venice, according to a news release.
About 18,000 gallons of oil spilled before Cypress could close the broken section.

The news release was distributed jointly by the Coast Guard, the state of Louisiana and the pipeline operator, Cypress Pipe Line Co. -- a joint venture between BP PLC and Chevron Pipe Line Co.

Nutting would not comment on the cause.

ExxonMobil has offered to help deal with the spill, company spokesman David Eglinton said in an e-mail.

Approaching Wildlife

Thanks to all those who participated in this week's poll: What should you do when you see wildlife approaching your campsite?

Possible answers were:

1. Put food on the ground to feed the animal.

2. Make lots of noise to scare the animal away.

3. Be quite and try not to startle the animal.

4. Sneak up close to the animal to get a good look. 

The correct answer is: Be quiet and try not to startle the animal. 

Encounters with wildlife inspire tall tales and long moments of wonder. Unfortunately, wildlife around the world faces threats from loss and fragmentation of habitat, invasive species, pollution, over-exploitation, poaching and disease. Protected lands offer a last refuge from some, but not all, of these problems. Consequently, wild animals need recreationists who will promote their survival rather than add to the difficulties they already face.

We know that animals respond to people in different ways. Some species adapt readily to humans in their domain, resume their normal behaviors and are said to be “habituated.” Other animals flee from humans, abandoning their young or critical habitat. Still others are attracted and endangered by human food and trash.

Because outdoor recreation is dispersed over large areas and at all times of the year, its impacts on wildlife can be equally extensive. Fish, birds, and reptiles, as well as mammals, are affected by people using their habitats. We are responsible for coexisting peacefully with wildlife.

Always watch or photograph animals from a safe distance to avoid startling them or forcing them to flee. Do not follow or approach them. If you’re hunting, know your game and take only safe, clean shots.

Use the observation areas, platforms and trails provided in many areas, and bring binoculars, spotting scopes, and telephoto lenses to watch wildlife. Back away if animals react to your presence. To leave the area, move away from the animal even if you must detour from your intended travel direction. You have more options in your movements than animals do. Treat them generously.

 Avoid quick movements and direct eye contact, which may be interpreted as aggression. Don’t disturb wildlife (i.e. by shouting to get their attention) to get a better photo. If animals are on the move, stay out of their line of travel. Travel quietly except in bear or mountain lion country. Don’t hike at night where nocturnal predators may present a hazard to safety.

Adult behaviors influence the relationship of children to the natural world. Show respect and restraint by teaching children not to approach, pet or feed wild animals. Always keep children in immediate sight. They’re often the same size as animal prey. Don’t encircle or crowd wildlife, tease or attempt to pick up a wild animal. Young animals, removed or touched by well-meaning people, may be abandoned by their parents. If you find an animal in trouble, notify a game warden.

Keep Wildlife Wild

Sometimes wildlife get a little too close for comfort...

Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center Trainer Course

This week we headed to Mansfield, Georgia for a Leave No Trace Trainer Course at Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center. Managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources this 6,400-acre area offers many recreational opportunities including hiking, fishing, hunting, and several educational programs. Here are some photos from the course.

See you out there,
JD and Emily - Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers (Team East)

What to do with the deer antler....

Our most recent poll regarding what to do with deer antlers generated some good answers and a few questions. As you'll recall, the poll question was:

"THE PRIMARY ARGUMENT FOR LEAVING A DEER ANTLER INSTEAD OF KEEPING IT AS A SOUVENIR IS...?"

Answer choices were:

1. So scientists can learn about deer behavior.
2. To avoid disturbing fragile ecosystems.
3. To allow others to enjoy the object.
4. So that its nutrients can return to the soil.
   

While technically any of the above answers could be correct, the most correct answer is to leave so others can enjoy the object. However, there are also other aspects of this situation to consider. 

People visit wildlands for many reasons, among them to explore nature’s mysteries and surprises. While many visitors are offended by finding litter in these wild areas, ecologists, botanists, archaeologists and other scientists are actually more concerned about impacts that impair the function of natural ecosystems, affect rare species or destroy the historical record. They are worried about what is missing from our favorite wildlands, things like native plants, healthy soils and archaeological artifacts, as well as rocks, wildflowers, antlers, feathers, fossils and other objects of interest. Leaving such things as we find them helps scientists understand the natural balance of the area and allows us to pass the gift of discovery on to those who follow.

Leave What You Find means retaining the special qualities of every wildland area—for the long term.

What Does the Leave No Trace Logo Mean to You?

We’re frequently asked around the Center about the meaning of the Leave No Trace logo. It’s not uncommon to get a least 1 call a week with some reference to the logo. The following are a few of the terms we hear:

• swirly gig
• pinwheel
• hurricane
• whirlpool
• galaxy

With such creative terms for the logo, you can imagine that the explanations of the Leave No Trace emblem get quite original as well. I’ve heard folks incorporate everything from water to space in their meanings of the symbol we’re all so fond of (side note: we know of at least 3 people who have Leave No Trace tattoos!).

I thought it was time to share the Center’s “unofficial” definition of the Leave No Trace logo. Consider the circle in the middle to be a fond outdoor experience or your favorite place to play outside. The surrounding lines represent the ways we interact with that experience or in that space: with enjoyment, wonder, appreciation, and awareness we come into and out of the experience with as little impact as possible.

This is, of course, up for interpretation. Leave us a comment and let us know what the Leave No Trace logo means to you!

Department of Interior Considers Lifting Firearm Ban

The Department of Interior, under which both the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reside, is considering lifting a ban on concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. Proposed new regulations that would allow visitors to carry loaded, concealed firearms in national parks if the state where a national park unit is located permits people to carry concealed firearms in their state parks. This would be a first and has caused concern for many ardent park supporters while other groups are very much in favor of the proposed rules.

Gun rights advocates, notably the National Rifle Assn., have said the ban infringes on their 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms and their ability to defend themselves from predators, both human and animal. "If you're hiking in the backcountry and there is a problem with a criminal or an aggressive animal, there's no 911 box where you can call police and have a 60-second response time," said Gary S. Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Assn.

Some in the National Park Service feel that parks have long been safe havens for both wildlife and people. Charles R. Farabee, a former acting superintendent at Montana's Glacier National Park said, "there need to be places in this country where people can feel secure without guns and know that the guy in the campground across the way does not have one."

For more information, visit: http://www.npca.org/keep_parks_safe/ and ttp://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-09606_PI.pdf

Coyote Ugly

Photo: My dad and son contemplating rocks on my parents' beach. Wonder what ended up in their pockets?

A coyote ate my parent’s cat about ten days ago. Maggie, the beloved tabby lived the life of a panther, prowling my parents grounds like a predator. She served up a heavy dose of dead birds and maimed rats to the doorstep every morning until she met her fate in the probable mouth of a coyote. Poor, unwitting Maggie became an inevitable product of the same food chain of which she so prolifically participated.

My mother looks over her garden describing the coyotes’ paths through the thick blackberry brambles and up past the house with mild grief but also a bit of wonder and exhilaration about this close brush with wildlife. She and my dad made a deliberate choice to leave Ohio and retire on a rural, verdant island on Puget Sound in Washington five years ago, bringing a rush new experiences with the natural world.

Much of what we have discussed here at Leave No Trace in recent months has been about Leave No Trace’s role in the “increasing participation in the outdoors” national discussion. We’ve talk a lot about what it takes to invest families and youth in their natural environments and when and when Leave No Trace enters that picture. For my parents, who always felt a remote connection to the outdoors even if it was merely feeling the Midwestern humidity through the screen door are, late in their lives, awash in nature and developing a new relationship to it.

They have suddenly begun a conversation with me about the ethics of dragging driftwood from their beach. My mom read Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods and wonders if I’m using it at work. They point out the invasive species overrunning their woods. They’re mad about the coyotes and the deer eating their tulips. My parents are the smallest case study in transformation. They have an increased relationship with their national world thus it is an enhanced, more attuned, more inquisitive one.