The North Bay - A Refuge for Wildlife

 

The North Bay - A Refuge for Wildlife

by Jim Jackson

Cover and above, the anise butterfly and caterpillar

Plants, animals, and insects are natures indicators of a healthy environment. Conversely, they are also indicators of an unhealthy environment and they tell us about the condition of our world. Now, this blog post is not about the status of our environment, but rather it is about those front-line indicators who have experience living and feeding in the world we have made for them. 

Above, American Avocets, one of the most colorful shorebirds in California

The San Francisco Bay has been a total environmental disaster since the Europeans first arrived in California. Prior to their arrival, the native peoples of the Bay Area (the Ohlone, Chochenyo, Karkin, Ramaytush, Yokuts, Muwekma, Coast Miwok, Southern Pomo, Kashaya, Patwin, Mishewal Wappo, and the Bay Miwok) used the bay as a source of food. Now some 300 years after the Spanish arrived, the bay is so contaminated with mercury, lead, and a list of heavy metals and other elements that they would nearly complete the periodic table.  

Above, flocks of American Avocets skim the tidal flats for forage for aquatic invertebrates

Recently a group of Sacramento Birders paid a visit to several so-called nature refuges in the north bay, including the San Pablo National Wildlife Refuge which is located along the northern side of Highway 37 near Napa. We also stopped at several other spots that are shown with numbers/red dots. We would have stopped at a fifth spot near Antioch but a large grass fire prevented this.

My first impression after stopping at the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge was, "Does anyone from the government agency responsible for this place ever come here?" It was littered with trash and it was obvious that most people who stopped there were doing so to relieve themselves! The reasons are even more obvious: the lone outhouse is quite far from the road and there is no one to monitor the activity here.  

But I digress. As avid birders, our goal was not to perform any sort of inspection of government-owned facilities, although it is painfully clear that someone should. We were there to engage in our hobby which is simply looking for birds. We arrived at low tide and despite the amount of trash in the parking area, the tidal flats were relatively clean and did not give off that typical salt marsh "briny" smell that is akin to seven-day-old oysters that have been left out in the sun.

For those that do not know, the bay of San Francisco stretches from the San Pablo Bay in the north near Napa all the way south to the tidal mudflats of Alviso and is a major migration stopover for numerous birds. It is also the home of many resident birds. And as you observe the shorebirds that use the bay as their feed stations, you begin to realize how fragile and potentially dangerous their existence is due to having to forage in the polluted mudflats. 

The cinnamon and black colors of the American Avocet, above, indicate that this is their breeding plumage, where otherwise they would be in their winter white and black colors. These birds are among the most beautiful shorebirds in California and cannot survive without the invertebrate animals that live in the tidal mudflats. However, with the food chain beginning with these invertebrates and their relative proximity to the pollutants in the mudflats, this poses a problem all the way up the chain.

During low tide, the mudflats are exposed in some areas but in other places, the sea water is just a few inches deep making it an ideal environment for the multitudes of shorebirds that feed there.

Above, a female American Goldfinch picks seeds from a thorny bush

Many recent studies have confirmed that San Francisco Bay is a toxic soup made up of some potent, deadly waste:

* Heavy metals, such as copper, mercury, and nickel

* Pesticides, including chlordane, dieldrin, diazinon, DDT, and pyrethroids

* Pathogens from human and wildlife sources

* Persistent organic pollutants - notably PCBs, dioxins, and furans

* Trash from stormwater and land-based sources

* Other contaminants like cyanide, and selenium 

* Various pharmaceutical products

Above, a male American Goldfinch closes his eyes as he probes between sharp thorns

So, who is really the agency responsible for the protection of our bay? is the EPA? Is it the fish and game Department? Is it the Department of the Interior? ...

We could not find the answer but took note of the signs at the refuge which hinted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might be in charge.

Above, an American White Pelican flies over the San Pablo Bay

As part of this blog post, we contacted the agency responsible for the San Pablo National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They did not comment on our notification that the entrance to the refuge was littered with trash. Instead, they send this: "We are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the American people."