Defenders of Wildlife Blog

An oiled pelican on the Gulf Coast (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

Laurie Macdonald, Florida Program Director

This Saturday, April 20th, will mark the third anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. By Earth Day 2010, we had learned the terrible news that 11 men had died in an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and we hoped an environmental crisis was not going to follow.

But follow it did. Over 200 million gallons of oil spewed from a failed drilling operation nearly a mile below the ocean surface: hot, highly pressurized petroleum hydrocarbons that had been stewing for millions of years. In the days that turned into months of frantic work to seal the well, the oil and attempts to contain it caused direct and long term damage to wildlife and their habitat, including an unknown number of deaths.

How can there be restitution for such an assault on the precious and extensive resources of the Gulf? How can the environmental losses be restored and the related economic losses be compensated? Sea turtles, whales and dolphins surfacing to breathe and sea birds resting or diving into the ocean were covered with oil. Seahorses and juvenile sea turtles living in the floating sargassum seaweed mats were killed when the mats were showered with dispersants and burned. Below the surface, deep sea coral colonies and shallow seagrass beds died due to the toxic combination of dispersants and oil. And on the beach, shorebird nests and chicks were trampled and scraped away by uninformed workers during cleanup operations, while heavy equipment and lights disturbed and harmed wildlife. Every part of the Gulf was affected by the spill, from its shores to the sea floor. People dependent upon marine resources, from shrimpers to hotel and restaurant owners, lost significant livelihood, and some of those living along the affected areas suffer ongoing illnesses.

Oil floats in the water off the coast of Louisiana. (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

A complex combination of legislation and lawsuits is causing the responsible parties, British Petroleum (BP) and others, to pay significant costs and fines. Penalties under the RESTORE Act passed by Congress on June 29, 2012 will make $4 billion available for restoration and improvement of the Gulf and for the people that suffered losses due to the spill. The RESTORE Act ensures that 80 percent of Deepwater Horizon civil and administrative penalties under the Clean Water Act will go to Gulf Coast restoration, and sets up a framework that can ensure coordination between the Gulf States and the Federal government.

Defenders’ Florida Representative Elizabeth Fleming and I recently attended a public meeting of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, which is evaluating which projects are most important to fund. The meeting was held to listen to information from the public about what actions we believed would be of the greatest benefit to the Gulf.

On behalf of Defenders, I presented a report that we produced with the National Wildlife Refuge Association that describes tracts of conservation land along the Gulf Coast and connections inland that should be acquired and added to the refuge system. This will protect wildlife habitat and help wildlife adapt to the impacts we are experiencing as a result of climate change and sea level rise. Examples include expanding the Gulf Islands National Seashore to protect sea turtle nesting beaches as well as people’s access to the coastline, and adding to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge to complete the ocean-to-inland connection that wildlife will need to rely on as they adapt to climate change.

Shorebirds like this rely on the beaches affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill (©Krista Schyler/Defenders of Wildlife)

I pointed out three principles that I think should guide the decisions on how to spend the restoration funds. First, all projects, including those not focused on the environment (boat ramps and the like) must result in ecosystem benefits. Second, all projects should also take climate change and sea level rise into consideration. And lastly, the most important action we can take is to acquire valuable conservation areas that add to our system of natural resource lands and wildlife habitat.

Author Carl Safina in his book “A Sea in Flames,” closes with an observation on northern gannets — large, shining white seabirds that migrate from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. Gannets dive for their prey and so they are directly affected by oil adhering to their bodies and by eating contaminated fish. Safina remarks that the first oiled bird whose image was in the news during the Gulf oil disaster was a gannet, and that seabird biologists speculated that up to a third of the population would be affected. The gannet already faces a host of threats near its breeding grounds, and is now suffering the impacts of the oil spill even 2,000 miles away, where it spends the off-season.

It is clear that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will continue to affect wildlife and habitat for years to come. Our job now is to help our damaged Gulf regain its health with carefully planned, enduring restoration work.

Elizabeth Fleming, Florida Representative 

One of the greatest obstacles to helping the Florida panther recover is that even the people who live with these animals in their backyard don’t always realize the steps they can take to protect them. Though already critically endangered, these panthers are constantly in danger thanks to collisions with vehicles, shrinking habitat, and people’s intolerance for living with a large predator. So as part of our campaign to Give Panthers a Brake, Defenders has been very busy with panther outreach in the lead up to Save the Florida Panther Day on March 16, 2013 and beyond.

Holding exhibits at festivals and other local events allows us to talk directly to people who live in panther country about how to coexist with panthers. (c) Lisa Östberg

In 1990, the state legislature established the third Saturday in March as Save the Florida Panther Day and governors have issued official proclamations promoting the day ever since. This year, Defenders has participated in several events across the state to educate Florida residents about panthers and what they can do to help them:

• On February 23rd and 24th, Defenders’ Southwest Florida Coexistence Coordinator and members of Defenders’ Panther Citizen Action Taskforce (PCAT) participated in the annual Swamp Cabbage Festival in LaBelle, Florida in rural Hendry County, which draws between 30,000 and 50,000 people each year. We joined efforts with other members of the Florida Panther Outreach Team to raise awareness about our official endangered state animal, and how to live and recreate responsibly in panther country. As part of our exhibit, we set up a demonstration of a predator-resistant enclosure and taught visitors how to protect their pets and livestock from local predators such as panthers, coyotes, bobcats, feral dogs and raccoons. We also handed out information on Defenders’ programs that help people to afford and construct these enclosures on their property.
• Defenders also handed out information about living in panther country at the Florida Panther Day event at the Naples Zoo. Several thousand people stopped by to meet panther field biologists, engage in activities for children and learn about opportunities to get involved in panther conservation.
• We staffed a table at a festival in the town of Ave Maria to provide information to hundreds of visitors about living responsibly with Florida panthers and other wildlife. This fairly new town, just 10 miles north of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, has a small but growing residential population that is in need of constant education about living with panthers, bears and other local wildlife.
• 

  We were able to run ads on the scoreboard, in the lobby, and on the LED ring around the stadium.

  Throughout the month of March, Defenders and Panther Citizen Assistance Taskforce volunteers have been holding a table display at the Florida Panthers NHL hockey team games at the BB&T arena in Sunrise (a suburb of Fort Lauderdale), so that we can provide information on panthers to fans attending games and other events. Thanks to our supporters, we were able to fund a huge advertising blitz in the stadium to remind drivers to slow down on Florida’s roads. Our message is displayed on the scoreboard, the giant video screen at the entrance, even on the radio during home games, all to get the word out to visitors and residents that the real panthers – the four-legged ones – need a BRAKE!

• We worked to get an official proclamation signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott declaring March 16, 2013 as Save the Florida Panther Day. As part of the celebration, we staffed a booth at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge’s annual open house, which took place the same day. The refuge is usually closed to the public, so the open house gave visitors the opportunity to explore panther habitat through swamp buggy tours and guided walks. Visitors also attended presentations by panther biologists and visited with Defenders and other educational organizations and agencies.
• We’re working with other members of the Florida Panther Outreach Team to provide information about living with Florida panthers at the Collier County Fair. The predator-resistant livestock enclosure is on display to show people how to protect their livestock and pets at night. Thousands of rural residents and landowners have visited our display and talked to our outreach team members.

After we launched our campaign last month, our supporters across the U.S. have answered the call to help us Give Panthers a Brake. More than 59,000 of you have written to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking them to make it a priority to protect additional panther habitat and travel corridors to give these beautiful big cats more room to roam!

The last couple of months have been a busy time here at the Defenders Florida Office, but we’re glad that there are so many great opportunities to spread the word about the plight of these beautiful wild felines, and to help Floridians and panthers coexist. Taking this time to focus on the Florida panther reminds all of us that they need our assistance year-round.

Tim Male, Vice President, Conservation Science and Policy

Whooping crane and chick (Credit: Flickr/GillianChicago)

Since the mid-1980s, there has been a deal between taxpayers and farmers: in exchange for generous subsidies to help maintain farms, farmers with fragile soils and wetlands would agree to protect those areas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) credits the program with preventing billions of tons of topsoil erosion every year, and saving hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands. Hundreds of rare wildlife species, from endangered whooping cranes to Florida panthers, have benefited from the program. In many places in the Midwest, areas protected voluntarily by farmers in exchange for these subsidies are the only remaining habitat for wildlife amidst an otherwise endless sea of corn and wheat crops.

Now, this important program is at risk because some members of Congress believe these modest environmental commitments are too much to ask of farmers — even though they receive approximately $10 billion in exchange. The loss could happen through a political sleight of hand. Here’s how. Congress is poised to ditch a subsidy program called Direct Payments, which provides the lion’s share of farmer assistance. Conservation requirements are a part of that program’s language — part of the DNA of that program. In place of Direct Payments, Congress plans to increase funding for crop insurance — another subsidy program. Taxpayers already pay for 65 percent of insurance costs for farmers, and pay the companies to sell insurance to farmers as well. The new assistance will make insurance coverage even more comprehensive, but without any conservation language. The result is that farmers would keep getting generous assistance under a different name, but conservation measures would go away in the process.

However, there is still a chance to fix the situation. Congress has time to pass a multi-year Farm Bill before the holidays. The Senate has already passed their version of the bill, which thankfully includes language to protect conservation measures. The leaders of some of America’s biggest conservation groups — ranging from Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever to Defenders of Wildlife and the League of Conservation Voters — are calling on the President, the House of Representatives and all of Congress to take action to save wildlife habitat by making conservation a requirement for all farm and insurance subsidies.

With the right version of the Farm Bill, we can accomplish some great things. With the wrong version, there is a lot that we stand to lose:

Funding
Both the Senate and the House have moved forward with 20 percent cuts in funding for wetland protection, habitat restoration and water quality projects in drafts of the Farm Bill so far. We cannot accept even greater cuts that would compromise our ability to save wildlife in some of America’s most important and vulnerable ecosystems.

Environmental Commitments
About 140 million acres of farmland — and 2 million acres of wetlands — currently have a voluntary plan in place that prevents soil erosion and protects wetlands. In exchange for the plan, the farmers get billions in subsidies. But under the proposal of the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee, by switching out one crop subsidy program for another, taxpayer subsidies would continue to flow, but the conservation plans fo away — and so will all that habitat.

The sage grouse has lost much of its habitat to agricultural development (Credit: USFWS)

Protect Environmental Laws
Some Members of the House of Representatives want to strip away state laws that prevent invasive species from spreading, and laws that require humane standards for livestock, eliminate procedures meant to keep pesticides out of rivers and streams and open more national forests to bigger clear cuts. A good Farm Bill would leave out these harmful riders, as the Senate has done.

Grasslands
Less than one percent of America’s tallgrass prairies remain, and other kinds of prairie are falling fast to agricultural and other forms of development. Congress can slow down the loss of our remaining grasslands by denying federal subsidies to corporations and other farmers who would plow up virgin grasslands to grow a crop.

These changes have broad support among millions of conservations and are the right thing to do for the environment. Moreover, our demands for the Farm Bill would also result in legislation that is less expensive for taxpayers. A win-win if ever there was one.

The National Wildlife Refuge System is the only system of federal lands in the U.S. dedicated primarily to conserving wildlife and their habitats. But what happens when Congress doesn’t give our refuges the funding they need? Defenders of Wildlife and 20 other organizations that make up the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) released a report this week that sheds light on that very question.

Restoring America’s Wildlife Refuges 2011: Assets for All Americans points to a long history of inadequate funding that has left the Refuge System struggling to fulfill its conservation mission. For example, in 2010, the Refuge System:

• had an average of only $3.36 to spend per acre to manage and protect more than 150 million acres of land and water.
• had to leave 87% of the 2.5 million acres overrun with invasive plants untreated.
• could only afford to employ 213 of the recommended 845 law enforcement officers needed to protect refuge resources and visitors.
• faced a more than $3.3 billion backlog of important operations and maintenance projects.    

Refuge funding is vital to protecting habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers and other wildlife

Though still far below what’s needed, small budget increases over the past few years have offered hope for our refuges. Unfortunately, some members of Congress want to turn back the clock on funding to 2008. That would mean cutting $69 million from the Refuge System’s already stretched budget, forcing habitat management projects to be scaled back further and critical staff positions to be eliminated. That’s why CARE is urging Congress to maintain a steady investment in the Refuge System and keep these special places on the right path to protect America’s wildlife. 

Learn more:

Read the full report here.

Watch this video by Defenders’ Federal Lands Director Peter Nelson to find out how funding our refuges helps protect the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

Funding Refuges to Save Woodpeckers

In the aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster, Defenders of Wildlife received hundreds of phone calls and emails from concerned Americans wondering what they could do to help wildlife and coastal habitat impacted by the catastropic spill. Having already built a tool called the Conservation Registry to track and map conservation projects across the country, we decided to create a section of the site geared specifically toward people looking to aid in Gulf response and recovery. 

With the help of Google Maps, the Gulf Oil Spill Recovery website combines the latest locations of oil along with information on important wildlife habitats.  Users are able to see what impacts have occurred, response steps taken already and what projects still need volunteers. The interactive site also invites people to record the impacts they have witnessed themselves, and spread the word about what areas need help most.

Proud that Defenders is using Google Earth as a tool to help change the world, a video explaining the site is being featured on Google Earth Heroes – a program that salutes ordinary individuals achieving extraordinary goals and shares their stories in the hopes that they will inspire even more initiatives to help make the world a better place.

Visit the Gulf Oil Spill Response and Recovery website at gulfoilspillrecovery.org and see how YOU can be a hero.