On the heals of devastating hurricane Harvey in Texas, Irma barrels toward Florida this weekend, putting thousands of people, domestic animals, and wildlife, including endangered sea turtles, in jeopardy. Sea turtle rehabilitation facilities that care for injured turtles have been working ’round the clock, preparing for the worst.
According to Dr. Charles Manire, veterinarian and director of research and rehab at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, FL, past experience proves there’s no safe place in Florida for sea turtles in a hurricane—especially corkers like Irma. In this video he anticipates the Center turtles’ move well inland to the Georgia Aquarium.
Texas Aftermath
I visited the University of Texas’ non-public facility, Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) in Port Aransas, Texas while researching my novel, Elizabeth’sLanding. Unfortunately, the facility sustained severe damage, but I was glad to hear the wildlife in its care and the staff were unhurt.
ARK facility during my visit in 2010. Photo: Katy Pye
Other key nesting and conservation facilities like Padre and South Padre Islands south of Corpus Christie escaped a Harvey hit.
HOW HURRICANES AFFECT SEA TURTLES
Off shore
Destructive impacts of a hurricane begin before the storm reaches shore. The storm’s wind energy mixes warm surface and deeper cold waters, lowering salt levels. Wave size increases, damaging underwater formations and stirring up tremendous loads of sand from the bottom. The food web for numerous species can be altered, short and long-term.
Storm’s landfall
Relocating sea turtle eggs is done but it is delicate, even under ideal conditions. Once the storm hits land, storm surgeshave deadly impacts on existing nests or nesting turtles. Eggs can drown or become exposed, scattered, and destroyed. Adult or emerging hatchlings are also at high risk.
Loggerhead sea turtle coming onshore to lay eggs. Photo: NOAA
However, according to Joe Scarola, a biologist for Ecological Associates Inc., a company that monitors sea turtle nests, Irma’s timing comes when the majority of eggs this season have already hatched. Nesting season continues through the end of October in Florida, so there’s a chance more eggs will be laid. Still it’s hard not to imagine thousands of recently hatched, 2″ turtles aren’t having a harrowing experience in today’s raging seas.
The very good news is it’s been a banner year for Florida sea turtle nests. Loggerhead Marinelife Center reports over 19,000 loggerhead, green, and leatherback nests on four beaches it monitors. Other groups also report many more nests in their regions.
Rehabilitating and protecting sea turtles is very expensive. Please consider a donation of any size to the organizations working valiantly to save them. Find one in your area here.
NOTE: If you come across eggs or stranded sea turtles of any size, report them to a local wildlife authority or sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation organization.
Sea turtle conservation continues to make progress, but most species are still in deep trouble around the world. Understanding the turtles’ entire life cycle is critical to moving these species away from extinction. Until recently, we had little to no data on where the babies went after hatching.
New technology and dedicated scientists have now cracked the case. In celebration of World Sea Turtle Day, I recommend this illuminating videoproduced byChanging Seas. Babies found!
Nesting for many sea turtles is going well this season — a thumbs up and huzzah to everyone, working to aid, repopulate, and love these wonderful creatures.
On the downside, poaching activities for sea turtle eggs and meat continues in Asia, Mexico, and countries like Costa Rica, where volunteers were seriously threatened last month by a gang perhaps linked to drug trafficking. In some cultures, sea turtles, like other wild (many threatened or endangered) species’ parts or eggs are believed to have aphrodisiac properties when consumed. Apparently, there are risks (of more than a belly-ache) in that special Saturday-night-delight meal.
Up to eight tons of dead endangered sea turtles were seized in central Vietnam in Dec. 2014 , after 4 tons where of the same were confiscated in November 2014. They cost abt. $9US each from fishermen and, turned into jewelry that can sell for $34+/- each piece.
Changing or creating newer, healthier beliefs of any sort is difficult. Perhaps news out of Popular Science (written by Jason Tetro) will send winds of change around the globe: sea turtles can be dangerous to your health and to the health of those you love.Along with Salmonella and e Coli, Tetro reports:
“One of the bacterial genera found within the turtle microbial population is Vibrio. It’s best known for V. cholerae species, the cause of cholera. But another species,V. parahaemolyticus, has been growing in prevalence across the globe. It causes gastroenteritis, wound infection, ear infection and has the potential to cause scepticemia. A third species, V. alginolyticus isless concerning as a pathogen but has caused close to 10% of Vibrio infections at least in oneAmerican study.” Jason Tetro
Electron scanning microscopy of V. parahaemolyticus cells attached to the shell of a crab. Photo courtesy of Carla Ster and Rohinee Paranjpye.
And some of these diseases are resistant to antibiotics, leading, in some cases, long-term implications for the patient. Bacteria that may cause illnesses in people live on the outside of sea turtles, too.
As research on sea turtles continues, it’s time to get the word out, to shift to new belief systems. Someone, please, find a an invasive weed and spread the word it’s the new, better Viagra. May bundles of otherwise useless vegetation sway, drying in the breeze, in once sea turtle slaughter huts.
Plastic pollution leads the pack of insults, but as the powerful photo above attests, derelict fishing gear (DFG) adds untold insults to mounting injuries.
Some days reading environmental news sends an emotional death ray into my hope for our planet. I end up deflated as an old tire. This World Oceans Day, I decided sharing a few success stories might put the spin back in my wheels.
Every year hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of people gather to reclaim from, or keep trash out of, our oceans, seas, and other waterways. Some gather for a day. For others cleanup is a career. Here are a few examples of what’s working.
The Ocean Conservancy’s annual INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP
2014 Results
561,895 volunteers in 91 countries collected 16,186,759 pounds (7,226 metric tons) of trash over 13,360 miles. One of the most unusual finds was $1,680 in cash. Largest “pieces” haul – cigarette butts – 2,117,931 of them. Ick. See if you can give up any of the Top 10 Items Found. I bought glass and stainless drinking straws and re-useable bamboo picnic ware to keep in the car. They make great presents, too.
I’m extremely lucky to live near the ocean. Our local harbor supports a fair number of fishing boats. In the winter and spring, we have fresh Dungeness crab, and salmon and local fish during other times of the year. Crab pots and derelict fishing gear are ongoing dangers to marine life, boats, and economic livelihoods in many fisheries. Sustainable solutions often mean partnerships between the fishing industry, states, non-profits, and federal government agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
CRAB POT RETRIEVAL, REUSE, RECYCLE PROGRAMS
Examples:
In 2009, NOAA’s Marine Debris Program employed off-season crab fishermen to remove nearly 3,000 derelict crab pots from Oregon’s coastal waters. The Program’s Fishing for Energyfunds paid for disposal bins along the coast where fishermen could discard used gear for free. A steel company recycled and sheared the waste, and an energy company burned ropes and nets as renewable fuel. The program was so successful, it will continue to remove additional pots through an industry-led partnership of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and NOAA.
The University of California School of Veterinary Medicine, the SeaDoc Society, and the Humboldt, CA Fishermen’s Marketing Association also have a pilot program to retrieve derelict crab pots. With i.d. info from the pot’s tag, they locate the original owner and offer them the pots for less than half the cost of a new one. Sales support future cleanups and unsold gear is recycled. Five hundred and fifty pots were collected in just two months this year. Program video (2:39)
Fishermen in North Carolina’s Pamlico Sound (through another NOAA partnership), are collecting and re-purposing 4 to 7 tons of crab pot material into 700 linear feet of oyster reefs. The goal is to rebuild the local, Eastern oyster fishing industry.
Abandoned gill nets are made of non-biodegradable mono or multifilament line. Fish and other marine life continue to be snared in this “ghost fishing.” Their value is lost to the environment and to the fishing economy. The inland ocean waters of Puget Sound was a burial ground for thousands of these legacy nets. Over the last decade the Northwest Straits Foundation, working with professional divers, NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state agencies, and others, has removed all 5,600 abandoned and dangerous nets. Talk about success. “Diving for Debris” Program video (6:04)
THE FUN FOR LAST
I am SO stoked about the Marine Debris Tracker app. A collaboration between NOAA’s Marine Debris Program and the University of Georgia’s Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative, this free app for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets turns you into a citizen trash scientist. Download the app, track, and log your trash collection sites (through GPS), regardless of where you are in the world and whether you’re on a beach, on the ocean, your street, school, local stream ~ wherever. Your info goes into a growing global database, allowing scientists to better understand the world’s trash picture. From knowledge comes solution, right?
This little free tool is so impressive it was included in Apple’s 25th Worldwide Developers Conference promotional video, “Apps We Can’t Live Without.” Oceans advocate Emily Penn, of Pangaea Exploration collects data on marine debris. MDT is an app she “can’t live without,” she told the Apple audience. Just think of the progress we could make if every kid with a smartphone or tablet starting tracking (and picking up) trash.
I’m no Emily Penn, but my ipad’s loaded and a collection bag’s by the door ready for today’s test run.
Ahh, I feel a lot better now. If you have an environmental success story (or you download MDT), please share your good news in the comments.
HAPPY WORLD OCEAN’S DAY!
Peace. Thanks for doing what you can.
P.S. The beautiful Monk seal in the opening photo was one of two rescued off Hawaii from this derelict net.
Click on the ornament to go to Part 1 of A Monarch Christmas
Franca’s Christmas holiday
House-sitting with Marcail ~ “It feels so good to be on a plant with sunshine on my wings!” Franca
House-sitting with Marcail ~ “Here’s where I sit in the bathroom. It’s kind of cold in here, but this plant is the safest. I haven’t fallen off of it, and none of the other animals can get me.” Franca
Katy: What’s new, now that you’re two plus weeks in?
Marcail: I house-sat during Christmas and took Franca with me. She liked it there because the house was warmer than mine. She also had plants to sit on. Sometimes when I got home after work, I’d find she’d fallen off the plant I left her on. Didn’t hurt her, but there were cats in the house, so I made sure they couldn’t get to her.
Butterfly pee!
Not everyone can say they’ve been peed on by a butterfly.
Katy: What a great idea. Now that you are more than two weeks into Franca’s rescue, what’s your hope for her future?
Marcail: I don’t know how old she is, but I have a feeling she’ll make it to warmer weather. Of course I’m hoping to release her. I definitely do not want to keep her as a pet. I’m really happy with the progress I’ve seen so far. I didn’t think she would be so quick to use her legs and wings, and she’s getting stronger. I’m pretty sure she won’t die, unless it’s her time.
Katy: How will you know when it’s time to let her go?
Marcail: I don’t know what conditions prove that she’s able to be released, but I want to see that she’s confident walking, confident flying, and able to find her own food without me putting it in front of her face. I think that would be proof that she can live on her own. My goal is to get her to feed on her own and fly. Then she’s on her way.
Katy: Those sound like reasonable goals. She’s done so well so far. Since she might be around for a while, are you going to make a habitat for her?
Marcail: At this rate, I’ll probably have to get some kind of small cage or terrarium for her to live in until spring. She’s getting more confident walking around and trying to use her wings. I don’t want her to get into trouble.
Katy: I’ve learned a lot following you and Franca. Can you sum up your experience so far?
Marcail: She’s a lot stronger than I thought. I was afraid she would be much more breakable and easily damaged, but she’s not. Caring for her doesn’t take as much time as I expected. I don’t take her to work, so I don’t feed her for a long time during the day. Still, she’s able to make it and keep her strength until I get home. I’m always glad for weekends or holidays where I can stay home and spend a lot of time with her. It’s a lot of time put in, but it doesn’t feel like it. A lot of times I’ll feed her and keep her warm while I’m watching a movie and I don’t notice how much time it takes. I feel like I make it work for my lifestyle and schedule. Sometimes I feel guilty about that, but she seems to be doing well anyway.
Katy: Given fall-hatched Monarchs can live up to eight months, she might be hanging around your house another four or five. Enough time to learn a lot more about this beautiful butterfly and her species.
UPDATE: Franca’s beautiful life came, as far we can tell, to a natural end on January 25th. I’m grateful for the chance to have this closer look at the lives on Monarchs.
Visit (and Like) Franca’s Facebook page to keep up with her. I created a puzzle, using a photo of a Monarch (female!) who stopped by my garden this year.
Monarch puzzle. Click on the link above the photo. If 20 pieces is too easy, bump it up to more. Have fun!
Thanks, Marcail and Franca for allowing me to share your story. I’ll be preparing my garden (with native milkweed and flowers) and anxiously watching for Monarchs this spring.
There is tons of information about Monarchs on the Internet. I found some unusual, fun facts. See how many questions you can answer.
Survival strategies
1) Franca got caught in a bad rain storm. What is one strategy butterflies use to wait out a storm?
2) Butterflies come in a range of colors, so why are Monarch’s orange?
3) What is a major difference between Monarchs that make the longest migration from Canada to Mexico and shorter migrations(or none), like the Western or resident Puerto Rican groups?
4) What body part(s) help a Monarch fly in the right direction during migration?
5) What is “puddling”?
Other stuff
6) Are Monarchs found in other places than North America?
7) What is the Monarch called in Australia?
8) What bird is immune to the toxin in Monarchs?
Answers
1) They hang upside down from a branch, wings folded tight, so the rain will run off their bodies.
2) The color is a warning signal to predators (like birds) that they’ll get a yucky (toxic to some species) mouthful if they chomp down on a Monarch. This is called an “aposematic” signal. Monarch caterpillars only eats milkweed, which contains a poison. The caterpillar’s body stores the poison and passes it on to the adult butterfly during metamorphosis. The Viceroy butterfly doesn’t rely on milkweed, but its color pattern mimics the Monarch’s. It probably sends the same, “better not eat me” message. A color variation where the Monarch’s normally orange areas are replaced by greyish white, originally appeared in small numbers in Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. A consistent 10% of Oahu, Hawaii’s population have this coloration.
Monarch on left, Viceroy on right. Note the black bar across lower wing on the Viceroy, absent from Monarch. Can you tell whether the Monarch is a male or female? Photo: Wikimedia Commons
3) New research shows size matters if you’re flying long distance. Look at the difference between these Monarchs (top left one is a male-note black scent sacs on underwing and thinner veins). The larger set makes the long migration, the smaller set never migrates out of Puerto Rico. BBC Earth News article, here.
Long-distance Monarch fliers have larger bodies and wings. Photo: used with permission
4) Butterfly ‘GPS’ found in antennae The antennae and brain work together to get Monarchs where they need to go. The butterflies use “a 24-hour clock in their brains in conjunction with their “Sun compass” when they migrate. The antennal clock can sense light independently from the brain and can function independently,” while regulating the brain process. “It’s becoming…clear that the antennae have a number of functions that are independent from being odour detectors. They can function as ears, sensing sound and changes in barometric pressure, and now we can add to the list this function as a timepiece.”
5) When a butterfly takes in moisture and nutrients from damp soil and wet gravel.
6)Yes, two species are wide-spread. Populations are found in New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, and New Caladonia. In Europe: the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. Also India, Ceylon, Central America and Northern South America-including along the Amazon. And in Hawaii. From: CarnavoraForum.
7) The Wanderer
8) The Black-headed Grosbeak. Other birds, like orioles and jays eat select, less toxic parts of the body. Mice seem less affected by the toxin, too.
Please don’t plant “tropical” milkweed, as there is concern it might be contributing to health issues in Monarchs. Replace it with native milkweed, at the least, cut it back every fall, so it’s not blooming. Read about the issue,here.
Eleven days before Christmas / and all through the town / shoppers aim for the store lights / none notice the ground.
Except one.
Every December Woodland, CA bustles with people, preparing for the holidays. Sunday the 14th was no exception, as my friends Marcail and her mom, Marjie, finished their shopping at a local mall.
Marjie crossed the parking lot toward her car to wait for Marcail. A flicker of color ~ not Christmas green or red, but true orange ~ caught her attention in a nearby flowerbed. A Monarch butterfly, wings spread, lay motionless on the dirt. She bent and lifted it off the cold ground, first searching its wings for a tiny identification tag. A Santa Barbara native familiar with Monarchs, she once found a tagged butterfly and retrieved information for a group tracking its migration. This downed migrant was tagless.
Behind the wheel, she cupped her palms and blew warm air over the lifeless body. One antenna moved. Marcail opened the car door, sliding into her seat. Marjie handed her daughter the butterfly. It would be up to her to figure out how to care for their new family member ~ if it survived.
In the following days, Marcail’s friends and I fell in love with the “girl and her butterfly” story unfolding on her Facebook page. I realized how little I know about Monarchs, much less how to nurse one back to health. I thought others might benefit from her journey, so Marcail agreed to this interview. The multi-post series combines updates on the butterfly’s progress, Marcail’s photos (used with permission), information on Monarchs, and ways we all can help.
TRIAL AND ERROR FEEDING
Katy: I’ve really enjoyed following the story, Marcail. I know your mom found the butterfly, but you’ve had to take care of it since. Let’s start with what you did when you got the butterfly home.
Marcail: Somehow we knew about keeping it warm and putting sugar water on a cotton ball and letting it drink from it, which it did. This kind of care lasted for a few days, then you and our friend Greg (who knows a lot about butterflies) sent me links about getting other nutrition into it through juice or a mixture of soy sauce and juice. At first it didn’t care for this new concoction, but if I made it much more on the sweet side I could usually get it to drink some.
Katy: You had a few concerns the first couple of days.
Marcail: A couple of hours after we got home, it was barely moving its wings. The antennae were moving much more, but it still wasn’t standing. The wings would move when I picked it up, but stopped when I put it down. I was worried about the missing chunk from her underwing, but Greg said it wouldn’t hurt its flying.
I was also worried because it’s an insect, but I only saw four legs. I found out the other two are tiny and are usually tucked under the head.
I think this video shows it using the front legs to clean its proboscis.
Katy: I see there’s an apple core, maybe a piece of other fruit, in the picture above. What’s that about?
Marcail: I’m trying to incorporate other natural fruits that could give the butterfly more vitamins and minerals than just sugar and water. I give it the juice that oozes out of overripe fruit mixed with sugar water and fruit syrup from jam. I usually put a raisin in it that gets soft as it soaks up the liquids and syrup. I’m hoping the raisins add iron because I’ve heard and read that raisins are high in iron.
12/19: “Well, just when I think “she’s not interested in eating anymore” I find something to perk her up. Some persimmon!” Marcail
Marcail’s Monarch was lucky to be found. A strong, cold storm hit a wide area three days before she crash-landed. Monarchs can’t fly if their body heat is below 86 degrees F.
12/17 “Well, I only fed her in the morning, didn’t have time after work and my next thing, now I can’t get her to eat. feeling frustrated. She probably needs to eat! She does like hanging out near a warm mug of tea though.”
They won’t survive freezing temperatures, especially if they are alone. This butterfly is part of the smaller, Western group whose members live, reproduce, and travel west of the Rockies. They can be found as far north as British Columbia, but they don’t migrate into Mexico, rather only as far south as San Diego. That’s what happens when you leave your passports at home.
Fall Migration Map.” Monarch Butterfly. US Forest Service
The butterfly would have hatched in the late summer or early fall, like its cousins in the Eastern migration group that move from Eastern Canada, through Texas, to Mexico each fall. A small number of the Eastern group fly to Florida where they stay for the winter. The large, Mexico-bound group over-winters in the oyamel fir trees ofMichoacan, Mexico. In the spring, all groups start the search for nectar to eat and milkweed plants on which to lay eggs and nourish the caterpillars when they hatch.
One of Marcail’s original concerns was the butterfly was not standing. It took a awhile, but on Day 6 it was ready for Strength Training! Can sprint flights be far behind?
12/20 “Practicing our grip this morning. She did her first official (small) flutter of her wings last night. Very exciting. I’m glad for a weekend so I can spend more time with her and feed her more often.” Marcail
Marcail (on her Facebook page): I think I’ve got a name for her: Franken Flutter (Franca for short) because I keep thinking, “She’s alive!”
Katy: How did you figure out she’s a female, or did you just decide to make her a “sista?”
Marcail: Our friend Greg told me the females have thicker veins in their wings. I compared her to pictures online, and her veins are definitely bigger.
The other main differences are the males tend to be slightly larger and they have a black spot (the “androconium,” a scent gland used to attract girl Monarchs) on each hindwing. Can you see them in these comparison pictures?
Female Monarch Photo: Creative Commons
Male Monarch Photo: Creative Commons
Marcail and her mom are both fabric artists. Here’s a collage Marcail put together showing the butterfly wing skirt she made in high school. I think Franca (can you see her?) approves.
Marcail’s butterfly skirt
My interview with Marcail and Franca continues in Part 2, along withsome unusual, funMonarch facts. I‘m off to make aMonarch paper airplane. (see update below)
Monarch rescue resource sites
I haven’t cross-checked all the information on the sites I visited for this series. I suggest looking at more than one site, particularly ones backed by universities and researchers studying butterflies. A serious Monarch health issue is linked to the increased use of “tropical milkweed.” For now, don’t plant it or spread the seeds, only use plants native to your area. If you already have it, consider replacing with natives or cut it back in the fall.
Wing repair ~ Live Monarch HospitalMarcail used info on this site to keep her butterfly’s legs from sticking together when it got carried away in its food dish.
Feeding~ Butterfly Rescue InternationalButterflies smell with their antennae and taste with special receptors, called tarsi, on the bottoms of their feet (who knew?).
12/25 – Christmas flutters! Marcail(on her Facebook page): Here’s a video of Franca doing some pretty rapid wing flutters. Of course right after I take this she does one 10x more impressive. I was telling some friends tonight about her personality, how she’s not much of a morning girl and I’ll be like, “hurry up and eat so I can go to work!” But she just farts around with her food like she’s not hungry.
I don’t know for sure, but this looks like the kind of wing “shivers” butterflies do to warm up.
Update: My Monarch paper airplane. Flew pretty well, considering I accidentally tore off what would be the short tail. Helps to follow the instructions.
UPDATE: Finished the airplane. Printed on both sides of the paper. It didn’t quite match up, but worked okay. I accidentally tore off the short tail the instructions say to leave. Flew pretty well anyway, but I’ll try again with the tail intact.
MONDAY 12/15/14 4 p.m. PST — HBOiMatter Movement video—“Saving My Tomorrow,” features youth involved in the fight for climate change. Here’s the Trailer.
My May 2012post on the iMatter Movement shared about kids (and adults), first marching to protest climate change, then relying on the public trust doctrine to sue the federal and states governments. The public trust is “a legal doctrine that imposes a fundamental, fiduciary obligation on all governments to protect our shared natural resources.” The goal of the suits is to force governments to create the recovery plans necessary to turn around or weaken the direction of global climate change.
Government isn’t the only focus. The Movement’s Youth Council,3 Step “Revolution” for Changeasks us all to change the way we Think, Live, and Act. The Movement’s website lets the children tell their stories in video. Stunningly beautiful and moving.
COP 20 Lima, Peru
Opening ceremony COP20 Wikipedia image
“I believe in order to get change we need to have massive mobilization. …governments are not going to move by themselves, they’re not going to choose to place people over profit. They’re not going to choose to align their policies with humanity, unless they are pushed to do so.” Emily Williams, California Student Sustainability Coalition * Interview “What Now for Climate Change? Youth Movements from Lima to Paris”
A broad coalition of California students are challenging public and private university fossil fuel-related investment practices. RadioKGNU interviews Emily Williams,Campaign Director of theCalifornia Student Sustainability Coalition about the nature of campaigns for change, particularly divestiture and sustainability. Just this week, California’s Chico State University became the first public university to commit to fully divesting all investments in fossil fuels within four years.
Example of cold-stunned sea turtles photo by permission: Matthew Godfrey North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Winter water temperatures at Cape Cod and along the Eastern seaboard are known to catch a few “dawdling” sea turtle youngsters off guard each year. If they fail to beat flippers toward Florida soon enough, the consequences can be dire. It’s called “cold stunning,” and since mid-November, 1200 sea turtles, mostly Kemp’s ridleys, have washed ashore (“stranded”) along the beaches of Cape Cod Bay. Valiant efforts of professionals and scores of volunteers have saved most, but three hundred have died or were found dead.
Sea turtles are reptiles, so when the water cools below their ability to adapt, they become the equivalent of floating ice cubes. It’s no joke, though. Their vital systems drop so low they can’t eat, swim, avoid predators, or fight off infections, like pneumonia.
As reported in today’s New York Times, “the usual trickle (of cold-stunned turtles) has turned into a flood.” According to ClicktoHouston.com, fifty Kemp’s ridleys were transported to Galveston’s Sea Turtle Hospital for treatment. Some went on to the Houston Zoo.
By 2010, decades of conservation efforts had increased Kemp’s ridley nests to the highest level since 1985. I visited Padre Island National Seashore that year to watch the first hatchling scramble to the sea after the Gulf oil spill. Sadly, nesting success rates for the Kemp’s ridley have declined since. Every turtle saved now resets the clock, shifting this smallest and most endangered of sea turtles again onto the path away from extinction. We can all help.
Kemp’s ridley hatchlings-Padre Island National Seashore June 2010 Photo: Katy Pye
The Massachusetts Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuaryis working around the clock and the sheer number of rescued turtles has stretched resources big time. If you want to donate supplies or funds, that would be terrific. If you also pass this call through your social networking–and in-person–pipelines, so others can help, you are one, fabulous turtle angel!
I love maps. Maps come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations. They tell us about more than the size and shape of continents, oceans, rivers, lakes, and ponds. They illustrate our travels, pinpoint natural resources and the places we live, shop, learn, and play.
In my 30s, I returned to college where my favorite earth sciences class was geology– especially the impacts of plate tectonics. This United States Geological Survey poster hung on my wall for years. The heavy black lines extending from off Australia up and across the Pacific at Alaska and down to South America are studded with red dots. They are volcanic hotspots mapping the ridge of fire, earthquakes, sometimes tsunamis, all products of the earth’s restless undergarments.
My uncle and I spent years plying the waters of our family’s history. When my first ancestors ventured from Europe to America in 1633, the world map looked like this. Check out the size of Antarctica! Brrrr!
World Map 1633
Maps had improved significantly by the time my 4th great grandfather and his son sailed the world’s oceans as master mariners the early1800s to the Civil War.
World map, 1863, showing routes of steam navigation companies, lines of steam packet communications, telegraph lines, tracks of sailing vessels, ocean depths and currents.
You can’t get from here to there or run a war without maps or mapmakers.
Civil War-Cartographic engineers Camp Winfield Scott
One of the most unusual maps is Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller’s, Fuller Projection or Dymaxian Map. He wanted to show the planet as one, connected “island,” moving away from the perception we’re separated by a belief the planet has to operate on its “you or me.” Bucky preferred, rightly so, to use AND as the separator.See how a few cartographers have re-imagined his map for the 21st century.
My most recent mapping interest involved sea turtles and research for Elizabeth’s Landing. Elizabeth learns how small transmitters, glued to turtles’ backs, beam signals to satellites, which beam the coordinates back to scientists. Scientists use information on where sea turtles feed and breed in conservation efforts all over the world’s oceans. As Elizabeth says, “…a turtle talking to outer space. How cool is that?”
Olive ridley sea turtle movements off Bangladesh. Tracked via satellite transmitter. By Marinelife Alliance and seaturtle.org
Update 10-8-14: Story maps are a writer’s tool for designing and revising plot, character behavior, or scenes that move the story forward. When I get stuck on any of these, I stop and work out what’s happening to my character and why, graphically, with my character or plot situation in the center and all the things that are happening radiating out from there. Gettiing all this out of my head into a visual clears my thinking like a warm summer breeze clears haze over the hills. Here’s a simple Plot Map that’s great for kids, or anyone interested in desiging or analyzing a story
thanks to Schoolbox and Angela E. Hunt
What would you like to map this week? The floor plan of your house, your block or neighborhood? All the plants in your garden where pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds hang out? Choose a spot, then map out and plant a new garden for them.
Butterfly garden plan-About.com Gardening
How about how your family got from where it started to where you are now? A family vacation in 2D? Show where you went (or dream of going) and photos of what you saw–mountains, rivers, forests, city buildings, a baseball stadium? Use flat maps, research Internet maps and photo sites. Just like books, a map can take you anywhere.
What part have maps played in your life? Love them, confused every time you look at one? Share your thoughts in the Comments section and links to your projects.
Interconnected seas form our parent ocean — to my mind, the most critically endangered species on the planet. We are undeniably linked: biologically (from whence we came), for sustenance (food, water, air), and emotionally (see “Blue Mind”-Wallace J. Nichols). We all know our parent is in trouble. What we do on land, and in the air and water can help or hurt. I’m always looking for ideas.
Yesterday, Marinebio.org posted a terrific education and action tool. “101 Ways to Make a Difference: Take Action for Threatened and Endangered Species.” Arranged by category, and not just about ocean issues, it’s easy to find a topic that warms your heart, makes your blood boil, or both. The deepest and most long-lasting changes — individually and for the planet — launch from a single passion, then often spread.
My top 4 (with links in green) are:
sea turtles~Turtle Island Restoration Project and Seaturtle.org(a primary resource for all things sea turtle)
over-fishing ~ MarineBio.org-“…a solvable problem.” World Wildlife Fund“More than 85 percent of the world’s fisheries have been pushed to or beyond their biological limits.”
ocean pollution~ National Geographic and NOAA (“Eighty percent of pollution to the marine environment comes from the land.” I include plastics as a form of “run-off.”)
the atmosphere ~If you click on only one thing in this post, choose this one. iMatter: Young people are taking governments to court in a fight to protect the atmosphere. These powerful, passionate, and eloquent kids are using society’s highest tools to force the top game-changers to uphold and act under the law. Their stories and presence touch, educate, and empower. Expect goosebumps, smiles, maybe a touch of “parental” pride.
After rain Point Cabrillo Lightstation Historic State Park Photo: Katy Pye All rights reserved
We’re in this together. Feel free to share your favorite “primal parent” links, suggestions, and stories in the comments.
Thanks for stopping by, peace, and do what you can.
Nesting Kemp’s ridley Photo: Adrienne McCracken
P.S. It’s sea turtle nesting season in many places and all 7 species are threatened or endangered. To avoid extinction, they need to up their reproduction rates. Please report any turtles or nests you find to appropriate local groups. Seaturtle.org lists 228+/- sea turtle groups in 63 countries. Follow local requirements or best practices, such as turning off outside lights at night. Don’t interfere with, or distract adults or hatchlings. Know how your fish and seafood is caught and whether laws to protect sea turtles from drowning in shrimping nets are being followed. Louisiana defiantly refuses to enforce federal fishing laws that protect sea turtles during shrimp trawling.
See how a few 
