In a week or so, the first of nearly 1 billion migratory birds will begin arriving in the Gulf of Mexico region on their way south for the winter.
Of course, many of the wetlands the birds use as rest stops on their journey are now fouled with toxic crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Facing an ecological disaster of almost incalculable proportions (as if there isn't one already), the federal government has allocated $20 million to take a rather dramatic step to save the birds: they're building new waterfront property.
According to an article in the LA Times today, the Agriculture Department's Natural Resource Conservation Service has asked farmers in the region to consider flooding up to 150,000 acres of their land as a way to provide birds with safe haven from the oil. From the article:
For birds, "it's an alternative so they'll have a lower probability of landing in areas affected by the oil spill," (NRCS spokeswoman Chris) Coulon said.
[...]
Coulon said she expected that many of the farmers who will sign up already work with NRCS on soil erosion control, pest management, water quality improvement and other conservation projects.
How much of the allocated money gets spent on compensating farmers depends on their volunteering to flood valuable crop lands in return for compensation.
Either way, it may be difficult to determine the ultimate success or failure of the project, which is known as the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative. Any flooded farmland is expected to remain submerged for 3-5 years. But as some 300 species of birds pass through the gulf later this summer and into the fall -- and then make return trips north in the spring -- many are bound to miss the jury rigged wetlands and succumb to the oil.
Those that do will be far easier to count than birds that find safety, only to fly away again.
Image: Semipalmated sandpiper -- Alan Vernon., Flickr
Tags: Conservation, Engineering, Everyday Science, Natural Disasters
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