Moby Duck

I just finished reading “Moby Duck”, which was recommended to me by Liz Roosevelt.  This is a fascinating and enlightening book based upon what seems to be a slim premise – to find out what happened to 28,800 bath toys which were lost at sea just south of the Aleutian Islands on January 10, 1992. The author, Donovan Hohn was a high school teacher who learned of the toy spill through an essay written by one of his students. Hohn assigned his journalism students to write an essay on the “archaeology of the ordinary.”  One student chose to write about his rubber duck which he carried for luck.  He mentioned the toys spill, and that the toys were expected to have drifted through the Bering Strait, the Northwest Passage, the Canadian Arctic and the Labrador Sea, and down to Nova Scotia, arriving sometime in 2003.

And so the odyssey begins.  This is more than just an indulgent quest to satisfy an individual’s curiosity.  Hohn is a very talented writer whose inquiries lead him from manufacturing plants in China, on to remote beaches in Alaska to search for washed up ducks, on an ice breaker in the Northwest Passage, the vast Pacific Ocean off of Hawaii on a scientific research vessel.  Along the way, readers learn about container vessels and how they are loaded, rogue waves, Irminger rings, the Great Pacific Gyre and some disastrous Arctic explorations of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.   His inquiries are wide ranging and thoughtful.

He interviews scientists, environmentalists from across the spectrum, ship captains and crew, manufacturers and lawyers.  He examines plastics in all forms and shapes, and the catastrophic effect plastic is having on our oceans and environment.  So little is recycled, and so much winds up on our beaches (some beaches in Hawaii are composed almost entirely of plastic sand), in the ocean as microscopic particles where it is mistaken as food by sea creatures, or floating endlessly in the ocean.

This is not a grim book, full of depressing facts and gloomy predictions for the future.  It is a frequently very funny, always enlightening and completely original book.  I very highly recommend it.   

John Turner Lecture

Friends of the Bay supporters had a virtual hike around Long Island at our lecture on Wednesday, March 3.  Noted Long Island environmentalist John Turner read excerpts from his newly updated and revised edition of Exploring the Other Island.  The book is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to get to know the natural side of Long Island better, and there is no better guide than John.  Carl Safina considers John to be “the all-around most experienced, most knowledgeable and most devoted person I know with regard to scientifically appreciating , lucidly explaining and effectively helping to protect this fish shaped Island.”

John told a story about an encounter with an individual in Yellowstone , who upon learning that John came from Long Island, mad e a disparaging remark about the environment on Long Island, and that there is very little worthwhile  here in terms of the natural world (obviously that person never came to Oyster Bay).  Admittedly, there are environmental challenges here, and there has been a lot of habitat destruction and compromise.  However, if a person was to visit all the sites mentions in his book they would be rewarded with a whole new respect and understanding of Long Island’s great natural beauty. 

Exploring the Other Island is arranged by season, so an early March lecture was  perfect timing to start a virtual hike.  John first read a quote about wildflowers from a book written in 1670:  “the country itself to send forth such a fragrant smell that it may be perceived at sea before they can make the land.”   He then began with the earliest of spring harbingers – the nesting of Great Horned owls, the emergence of tiger salamanders and spring wildflowers, the return of piping plovers and spring peepers.   Our spring songbirds are already leaving their wintering grounds in South America to make their long journeys north.  There haven’t been any ospreys seen in Oyster Bay yet, but they should be back in the next couple of weeks. 

Birds are not the only animals that migrate.  The alewives (or river herrings) will be returning to their streams to breed as well.  One of the challenges they face are dams or other obstacles to their passage.  One of the actions recommended in the forthcoming Watershed Action Plan will be to  install fish ladders or remove blockages to restore historic alewife runs. 

The depth and breadth of John’s knowledge of Long Island’s environment was clear as he went through the seasons and around the Island.  I think everyone in the audience learned something that night.  For instance, I never knew that Long Island had once been one of the top five producers of cranberries in the country.  The last commercial cranberry bog , which was in Manorville, closed in 1975.  There are sites on Long Island where cranberries still grow.  We also learned that Woodcocks have the nickname of the “flying meatloaf”.  If you’ve ever seen a woodcock, it makes perfect sense. 

Max Wheaton, the Poet Laureate of Nassau County was in attendance at the lecture, and he was given a challenge of writing a poem to the milkweed.  For so many who are allergic, milkweed may not be a thing of beauty, but the pods in late summer and early fall are really stunning.  

A recurring theme throughout the night was the need for responsible stewardship and appreciation of Long Island’s land and waters.  There are many simple actions that can be taken, recycling, using less water, not using plastic bags when we go shopping that seem small, but taken together, make a difference. Supporting organizations you believe in is critical.  Quoting from Exploring the Other Island “It is difficult for many of us to effect change in the decisions taking place in corporate board rooms and governmental committees due to the time and energy it typically takes to become involved in the political process.   Here’s where conservation and environmental organizations play a surrogate, yet critical, role to your direct involvement by reflecting and expressing your concern for the environment to corporate and political America.  They are able to marshal and focus your support for protecting the environment to achieve gains in protecting wildlife, preserving open space, promoting renewable energy, and in a whole host of other important conservation areas.”  With the current budget crisis playing out in Washington, local organizations are going to be taking on more of the work to protect and preserve our environment. 

John autographed copies of his book and we do have a very few left.  All the proceeds will benefit Friends of the Bay, so if you would like a copy, please let me know.  

Congressional Funding

As I am writing this article, congress is debating a Continuing Resolution to extend government funding for the rest of the year.  By the time you are reading this article, voting may have taken place.  My column last week spoke of the use of Facebook in discovering interesting articles.   This week, Facebook and other social media applications were key tools in helping to spread awareness of the need to make phone calls to help protect our environment.   The astonishing spread of calls for freedom and less restrictive government in the Mideast is also testament to the efficacy of these tools.  All the coverage I have seen gives credit to usage of Facebook,twitter , and email  in arranging and coordinating the protests, and in allowing unedited coverage of these events to spread worldwide. 

The Long Island Sound Study is composed of groups from along the southern side of Connecticut and the north shore of Long Island who work together to protect the water quality of the Long Island Sound.  There is a broad diversity of representation.  Some of them members are locally based like Friends of the Bay or the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, there are municipal members like the Town of Oyster Bay, representatives from fishing associations, larger regional organizations like Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Audubon New York and Connecticut, and governmental agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Dcpartment of Environmental Conservation.  All of us work together to protect the Long Island Sound and its watershed areas.

Some of the larger organizations have staff members who closely follow what is occurring in Washington and report back to their constituents and to members of the Long Island Sound Study.  This week the amount of urgent emails from environmental organizations was more than I have ever seen.  An email Friends of the Bay sent began with “The environment is under assault in Congress right now”.  These are difficult economic times, and tough choices have to be made.  It seems though that cuts are not being made evenly, or with regard to damage that may be done that is irreversible.  Once a habitat is destroyed, it is gone forever.  As someone  famously said “land – they aren’t making any more of it.”

One of the tables of funding appropriations that was circulated was astonishing to me: 

SF Bay	$7m	$4.847m
Puget Sound	$50m	$50m
South Florida	$2.168m	$2.061m
Mississippi River Basin	$0	$6m
Long Island Sound	$7m	$2.962m
Gulf of Mexico	$6m	$4.464m
Lake Champlain	$4m	$1.399m

As you see, funding for the Long Island Sound was being cut by more than 50%, to 2.962 million.  The most the sound ever received was $7 million.  Our shellfishing industry alone contributes $7 million to our regional economy.  $7 million was the most the Sound ever received. 

Understandably, groups were very concerned about these deep cuts.  It had been anticipated that funding would remain at the 2010 level, at $7 million.  Emails were sent out by Audubon New York and Connecticut, requesting assistance in reaching out to legislators.  Friends o f the Bay and Citizens Campaign for the Environment sent out eblasts to our membership and posted alerts on our Facebook pages, which were in turn shared by the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee and Boating Times Long Island.  I heard from representative’s assistants that they were receiving phone calls as a result of these cooperative efforts.  In these very difficult times, when government agencies and non profit organizations are stretched to the maximum, cooperation and support is key to achieving goals.  Public support is crucial.  Your legislators need to know what is important to their constituents. 

As part of this cooperative between organizations, Sean Mahar of Audubon New York provided the following  talking points to use when calling legislators regarding this Continuing Resolution – these can also be used as the basis of a letter or an email to your representative.   The Continuing Resolution may have already been decided as you read this column.  It is still very important to let your legislators know that the environment (and the jobs produced or protected, tourism income, etc) is important to you. 

“Across the nation, our important water ecosystems like the Great Lakes and Long Island Sound are under constant threat from pollution and habitat loss.  We face a massive backlog of projects to clean up and restore these important engines of the regional and national economy. 

The cuts proposed in this Continuing Resolution disproportionately target these important water and wildlife programs, that invest in programs that put people to work restoring the waters that millions of people depend on each day. 

For example, in my district, Long Island Sound is a national economic and ecological treasure that contributes more than $8 billion per year to the regional economy from commercial and recreational fishing, ecotourism and other water dependent businesses. More than 28 million people, or nearly 10 percent of the population of the United States, live within 50 miles of Long Island Sound, and the resultant development has led to increasingly poor ecosystem health.

For the Sound, federal funding through the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Acts is desperately needed to reach the goals of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that has been developed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Long Island Sound Study (LISS).  Yet this CR cuts this program by over 50%!

This attack by the House Republicans on environmental spending is the wrong course, and does little to put our nation on the road to economic and environmental recovery.  Investments in local environmental restoration jobs that cannot be exported elsewhere must be prioritized and not undone when the demand for this funding could not be greater. 

In New York alone, over $70 million worth of projects was applied for in the first year of funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and while the $20 million in funding received by the state is just beginning to yield dividends, we cannot afford to lose ground. 

The longer we wait to reverse the decline of our coastal ecosystems like the Great Lakes, Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, and other of our nation’s great water ecosystems, the costs to bring these places back increase drastically, greatly decreasing the returns on our nation’s investment. 

Therefore I urge you to vote against these cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Long Island Restoration and Stewardship Acts and other EPA Water Programs are the wrong course, and amendments that would handicap the EPA to protect the water and air resources we all depend on. 

In addition, I urge you to oppose the elimination of funding for the State Wildlife Grants Program, the nation’s core program for keeping species from becoming endangered and keeps people working to monitor and improve the habitats that our fish and wildlife rely on. 

This proposed elimination comes at a time when bird and wildlife watching is the fastest growing outdoor recreation bringing in billions in revenue from this ecotourism.  Our state wildlife agencies and organizations need this which every state and territory  in the nation gets their share of the funding based on a formula.  Therefore every state benefits and every state will be negatively impacted by this program’s elimination.

This is why I urge my colleagues to vote against this assault on environmental programs, and take a scalpel to our systemic budgetary problems, instead of a hatchet to funding for our forest, water and wildlife.  The health of our economy, future generations and the planet depend on it.”