On the ground update #2

Today I arrived at the Venice Marina at 9 am to meet the team from National Wildlife Federation (NWF). My task for the day was to follow NWF President and CEO Larry Schweiger with my video camera. The footage I shot will be used as part of an outreach e-blast NWF will send to its membership.

The winds were relentless today but we were lucky to have a flotilla of boats manned by local charter fishing captains. Our first trip took us down the Mississippi River out to the Gulf through South Pass. It was cool to see the old lighthouse near Port Eads. When we got out of South Pass into the gulf, I also saw the original wooden jetties designed by James Buchanan Eads in 1876.

The area that we surveyed was already flush with oil booms. Most of the booms had stayed in place but because of increased wave action and heavy winds from the south, a few booms had washed ashore.

After conducting a few interviews and surveying the area, we returned back to the marina. For lunch I had a basket of fried oysters. I've been trying to eat a lot of oysters lately to compensate for an uncertain future without them.

Our second trip out to the Gulf would take us into the Delta Wildlife Refuge and through Pass a Loutre. We were escorting a team from ABC's Good Morning America. Delta Wildlife Refuge was a gorgeous reminder of what I am fighting so hard to protect. There were roseau canes as far as the eyes could see and every few minutes groups of blue-winged teal were whizzing up and away from the boat.

The charter captain on this trip was very knowledgeable and has spent his entire life on the waters of the delta. He took us to a spot outside Pass a Loutre where a wave of oil sheen killed a large patch of roseau canes. Although it hurt me to see this, I knew the team of people I was working with on this trip would use these images to tell the story of a great ecosystem in danger.

Tomorrow I will be filming a team of people who fly a drone plane with a camera attached to it. The plan is to get aerial footage of the oil sheen and use the footage to get this story out to the public.