 Gerry Ellis/±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη |
βWhat did the scientists see? They saw birds and they saw oil. And too often, they saw them together.β Thatβs the bottom line from a new report, β,β released today by the ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη.
The report details the findings of ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη scientists who visited the oil-plagued Gulf Coast six months after the Deepwater Horizon spill.
During their weeklong journey, the scientists made some interesting discoveries. Like the fact that oilβs still aroundβand visible. They saw oil in nine of out 10 transects along Barataria-Terrebonne Bay and the Isles Dernieres-Timbalierβboth globally significant IBAs. The oil didnβt always look the same; sometimes it sat beneath the sand, oozing to the surface when prodded. In other places, it lay dormant under the waterβs surface, becoming visible only as it crashed into the shore or during high tide. Either way, it was still there.
Also, the ±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιη scientists saw oiled birds, but only three total out of 10,000 birds counted.
±¬ΑΟΉ«Ιηβs had a presence on the Gulf Coast for more than a century. And the organization will continue its work there post-spill, aiming to turn tragedy into something positive by rebuilding and restorating the land, and trying to reverse coastal erosion and stabilize populations of area birds. βThrough long-term commitment,β the report reads, βwe can go beyond recovering from this assault on a precious landscape to improving its bounty for birds and people.β
For a full copy of the report, .