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Amidst so many important issues and threats against the planet's natural resources, every now and again one finds a success story. Here's one that shows that it's not too late if people, governments, and corporations recognize the importance of the ecology that surrounds them and work together.
Coastal wetlands are home and haven for a variety of plants and animals. Wetlands are a unique ecosystem, often a bridge between freshwater and marine environments. But they have been receding due to commercial development and pollution.
In the southeastern United States, South Carolina has many rivers that work their way to the coast, feeding an expansive network of wetlands. However, to meet the needs of a growing 
population, residential and commercial development has severely impacted these wetlands, particularly over the past 50 years. The wetlands serve as a nesting habitat for several species of birds and one bird in particular, the whooping crane, had long ago left an area known as the ACE Basin.
The ACE Basin is a wetland where three rivers - the Ashepoo, Combahee, and the South Edisto - empty out to sea south of the city of Charleston. Due to the combined efforts of local landowners, government officials, and other conservation-minded citizens, over a 250,000 wetland acres have now been preserved.
With that, the five-foot tall majestic whooping crane has returned, with two mating pairs regularly wintering in the ACE Basin. The whooping crane had been considered gone from South Carolina wetlands since before the Civil War, so to see it return now is clear evidence that the efforts of the South Carolinians is working.
Congratulations to the people of South Carolina who understand the importance of wetlands to the overall health of their state's ecology.The return of the whooping crane is something to crow - or whoop - about.
Read about the South Carolina wetlands in The Post and Courier.
I was watching a re-run of the PBS program series, Nature, and there was an interesting episode on monster crocodiles. The researcher was traveling the world in search of 20-foot+ crocs, most of which having been hunted over decades either as trophies, for their hides, or in defense of cattle and, in some cases, local villagers. The net effect was that these super-size reptiles were becoming a rarity, if not all together extinct.
Then today I read an interesting follow-up on the Conservation International (CI) web site. CI has been involved in working with government officials in Columbia and members of the IUCN in getting local villagers to help conserve remaining populations of American crocodiles that inhabit Columbian wetlands and mangroves. Although illegal to catch, subsistence-level villagers are enticed to catch crocodiles and sell them on the black market.
"Within the mangrove wetlands, the crocodile is an important umbrella species which helps to sustain the functioning of the ecosystem; among other benefits, crocodiles often eat dead fish, keeping the water clean for the other species that rely on it – including humans."
With the new government-sponsored approach, by locating crocodile egg nests, retrieving the eggs, incubating and raising them in a hatchery for the first year or so, then releasing them later 
into the wild, the hunters-turned-conservationists are improving the odds for the survival of the crocodiles, compared to how their dwindling numbers would survive on their own. Maintaining a healthier balance in the wetland/mangrove ecosystem means allowing nature's predators and scavengers to thrive, producing a stronger and healthier population of fish and better water quality - which benefits both the ecosystem and man.
Much like what happens when sharks are protected, rather than hunted, in reef areas, local villagers benefit from a healthier ecosystem that is a food source and there is also the ancillary economic benefit derived from ecotourism - crocodile tours have sprung up in Columbia.
Once again, protecting the environment pays off in more ways than one.
Read the entire Conservation International article.
Lead poisoning is being shown to have an effect on wildlife from California condors to bald eagles to grizzly bears and even whole environments like wetland preserves. The source of the poisoning comes from lead bullets either lodged in an animal who survived the wound, consumed by a predator or scavenger feasting on a bullet-wounded animal, or as ammunition that missed its target and contaminates the soil or surrounding ecology.
The Center for Biological Diversity reports that three endangered condors died of lead poisoning, suspected of having foraged in Utah before reaching and dying in northern Arizona. 
Four bald eagles died this winter of lead poisoning in Alberta, Canada; one of the eagles having as much as 9 times the fatal level of lead. And in Yellowstone, a recent study showed grizzly bears had elevated lead levels during hunting season, due to feeding on wounded elk. And loose lead shot has been shown to contaminate soil and even work its way down into protected wetlands
While lead-free ammunition is required in some select areas in some states, it is not nationwide for all environments. And while a total ban on all sport hunting is probably not realistic, there is some movement to extend the range of non-lead regulations. Earlier this week, California Assemblymember Pedro Nava introduced legislation to outlaw toxic lead shot from all of California's 627,000 acres of designated state wildlife areas. That's a step forward.
"We need to get lead out of wildlife areas," said Nava. "It makes no sense to allow people to leave poisonous material in our state parks."
The Center for Biological Diversity is conducting a "Get the Lead Out" U.S. campaign. Click here to learn more.
Read Los Angeles Times article on poisoned condors.
Read Calgary Herald article on poisoned bald eagles.
Amidst so many important issues and threats against the planet's natural resources, every now and again one finds a success story. Here's one that shows that it's not too late if people, governments, and corporations recognize the importance of the ecology that surrounds them and work together.
population, residential and commercial development has severely impacted these wetlands, particularly over the past 50 years. The wetlands serve as a nesting habitat for several species of birds and one bird in particular, the whooping crane, had long ago left an area known as the ACE Basin.
