On the ground update # 3

I just got back home from Venice. Earlier today I made a trip with National Wildlife Federation through Baptiste Collette Bayou and into Breton Sound. There is a very interesting project taking place in Baptiste Collette. The Army Corps of Engineers dredges the bayou periodically and pumps the sediment through a pipeline and into the marsh. The result has been the successful building of new land. If we are going to ultimately save Louisiana's vanishing coastline, it will be through concrete results such as this.

After exiting the bayou into Breton Sound, we made our way across to Breton Island. The island is set up as a National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge provides habitat for colonies of nesting wading birds and seabirds, as well as wintering shorebirds and waterfowl. There were plenty of those birds to be seen today and thankfully there was no sign of oil being washed onto the island.

I just read an article in The Times Picayune that explained why we have yet to see oil on the coast. Apparently, the recent high winds and heavy rains have dissipated the oil slick into billions of tiny pieces. This may be good news for now, but we have to stay focused on the long term impacts and the fact that the leak is on-going.