Avian ecologist Renee Cormier first helped save wildlife from the effects of an oil spill in 2007, when the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
So when she and five others with Petaluma-based Point Blue got the call to help with the oil pipeline rupture in Huntington Beach earlier this month, they sprung into action
For Cormier, it’s a calling.
“My job, my career and my interests and passion really lie with bird conservation,” Cormier said. “And oil spills really can have the potential to have big impacts on bird populations.”
Point Blue partners with the UC Davis Oiled Wildlife Care Network, which sent more than 80 responders from 14 of its 44 network organizations to find and help animals affected by the Oct. 3 oil spill. The spill left nearly 130,000 gallons of heavy crude oil in the waters off the shores of Orange County near Huntington Beach.
Cormier said the Oiled Wildlife Care Network works in consultation with the Office of Spill Prevention and Response and those responsible for the spill to determine how many and what type of personnel are needed. The care network then coordinates with Point Blue to send staff members to the incident site.
Point Blue held two main roles in the response - bringing affected animals into the recovery facilities, and then “processing” those animals before sending them into the care process.
“What processing oiled wildlife essentially means is that we collect data and evidence on every oiled animal recovered during the oil spill,” Cormier said, adding that “evidence” includes photos of the animals. “That is used to document the impacts of oil spills on wildlife.”
The processing procedures include a full physical exam, then 48 hours of monitoring an animal’s health condition before it is sent through washing procedures, which the network said can be stressful for an animal.
“Working with mammals adds an additional complexity since most must be anesthetized in order to make it safe and easy to clean,” according to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network website.
It takes staff about an hour to fully wash birds, with larger mammals taking up to several hours, according to the website.
“This step is very important, because all the soap needs to come off, or the animals’ fur or feathers may not go back to normal and they may not be able to become waterproof,” according to the site.
Recovery crews accounted for about three dozen bird species, both dead and alive, during cleanup efforts. Those ranged from California gulls and duck species, to snowy plovers and sanderlings. As of Oct. Sunday, 32 oiled birds were found alive and treated, with another 78 deceased.
“Some of the live birds have already been released back to the wild, which is always something that we like to see,” Cormier said. “That’s always a nice ending for those individual birds.”
At least six larger mammals died due to the oil spill, including three California sea lions and a bottlenose dolphin. One live North Right Whale dolphin was also found, according to the Oiled Wildlife Care Network web site.
Cormier, who started at Point Blue as an intern in 2002 while working with songbirds, said the Southern California oil spill is the third she has responded to personally.
Meanwhile, Point Blue, an environmental restoration nonprofit founded in 1965, has since trained generations of conservation scientists and helped in oil spill relief efforts since 1984.
Though beaches have reopened since the recent Southern California spill, one Point Blue member remains at the site to continue recovery efforts. There is no estimated time of cleanup completion at this point, a member of the Southern California Spill Response team said in a phone interview.
Cormier said, though oil spills can be tragic and damaging to the environment and ecology, she appreciates the educational opportunities they can present in understanding the impacts on our surrounding wildlife.
“Without studying them, we won’t really understand their impacts,” she said. “Learning from all of these different types of events can really help us in moving forward with better conservation.”
Amelia Parreira is a staff writer for the Argus-Courier. She can be reached at amelia.parreira@arguscourier.com or 707-521-5208.
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Point Blue to the rescue: Local scientists aid in oil spill recovery - Petaluma Argus Courier
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