Wash. biologist hazes swans away from deadly lead
November 29th, 2008 By PHUONG LE , Associated Press
Wildlife biologist Mike Smith stands on a small boat on Judson Lake as he talks about scaring away trumpeter swans that try to land there Nov. 18, 2008, near Sumas, Wash. Years of collecting dead carcasses and examining lead-poisoned livers have convinced Smith of this: to save Pacific Coast trumpeter swans, he has to haze them. When trumpeter swans started dying by the hundreds in recent years, scientists traced the problem to the shallow 100-acre Judson Lake that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border 15 miles east of Blaine, Wash. Lead shots have been banned for waterfowl hunting since 1991. But wildlife scientists believe the long-necked swans were swallowing shots, along with food and grit, from the muddy bottoms of lakes and wetlands. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(AP) -- Years of collecting dead carcasses and examining lead-poisoned livers have convinced Mike Smith of this: to save Pacific Coast trumpeter swans, he has to haze them.
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1. ban lead shot, period ( it doesn't matter if it's legal for killing quail, if it's poisoning everyone else, too )
2. work out exactly HOW to clean out a small area of the lake ( 1 person, 2-3 days worth, ie a Weekend/Long-Weekend ), possibly using a cheap metal-detector-wand sealed in a plastic vacuum-bag, without demolishing the ecology by trampling it to death. ( maybe waving it crossways to its latest "hit" would identify where on its length it located the piece )
3. set a web-site where volunteers can
a) train ( games are training-simulation, use a cheap/low-HW-requirement OSS engine, have IT volunteers create the simulation, it needn't be detailed, but only train/show what need be done, and what need be avoided ) the volunteer until they "get" it...
b) assign them a spot in dire need of cleaning, and...
c) record their lead-catch as their "score" on the web-site.
Have each area gone-over twice, 2 overlapping grids, so the lake doesn't end up with a grid of not-done areas, and make certain each area is done repeatedly until no more lead is coming out of it.
You'd be providing payment by Recognition/renoun for the ones making the difference,
you'd be getting the work done with only budgetary allocation for coordination/development, and...
you'd be setting in place a prototype for all other volunteer cleanup/improvements of our worst insults against our beloved world, among whom we live.
Track it right ( programmer's term Instrumentation ), and you'll discover what need be improved for the next project/iteration.
We CAN earn healthy living-world, IF we do what need be done, now ( rather than "later" ).
Allowing our children living-world would be a Good Thing, yes?
Cheers,