Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

photo credit: apert

Thanks to enormous human intervention and tens of millions of dollars spent, the California condor population is at 279, up from just 21 in 1982. But according to a new report released by California Audubon, this recovery effort requires “constant and costly human assistance” that is unsustainable and unrealistic unless lead is banned from ammunition.

Lead Is Bad News for Condors and People Alike

Lead poisoning from spent ammunition is what drove North America’s largest birds to the brink in the 1980s, and it continues to sicken and kill the last surviving California condors. Condors, as a scavenging species, feed on carcasses, so the killed game remains left by hunters are integral to condor survival. Unfortunately, when the carcasses contain lead-bullet fragments, condors inadvertently ingest lead. The consequences are deadly.

(It’s also worth noting that the lead fragments in shot game are highly toxic for humans and at least 48 other species, including Bald and Golden eagles.)

Tiny Lead Fragments Cause Birds to Starve

What happens to the majestic birds after ingesting lead fragments isn’t pretty. Lead poisoning paralyzes the birds’ digestive systems and they are doomed to slowly starve. So poisoned birds are trapped, confined, and injected twice a day with a chemical to rid the body of lead. Sometimes the treatments don’t work, and birds die despite conservationists’ best efforts.

Copper Bullets Cost More and Are Not Always Available

Efforts to encourage voluntary replacement of lead ammunition and to remove or bury kills have been largely unsuccessful. Not all hunters are aware of the environmental harm lead bullets wreak. Habits are hard to break. And higher costs and lack of widespread availability of alternatives, such as 100-percent copper bullets, also hamper compliance, even on ranges where lead ammunition is already banned.

Today, human assistance acts as a costly band-aid to the problem. California condors are provided lead-free food at man-made feeding stations, hindering their ability to forage. They are also regularly monitored, trapped, tested, and treated for frequent lead poisoning, which lessons their fear of people and man-made structures. As a result, the birds risk electrocution from sitting on utility lines and frequently feed harmful “microtrash” (nuts, bolts, rags, bottle caps, etc.) to their young chicks.

Removing the Source of Lead Is the Condors’ Only Hope

As long as lead exposure continues, recovery efforts are doomed. Researchers hope that a successfully enforced ban on lead ammunition across Western hunting ranges would allow the California condor to survive without human assistance.

More resources:

Audubon California
View the complete report as a downloadable PDF:
http://ca.audubon.org/AOU_CONDOR_REPORT_Aug08_final.pdf

The Audubon California page below hasn’t been updated to reflect the passage of CA bill AB821, but it provides a good summary of recovery efforts and information on where to find alternatives lead bullets:
http://ca.audubon.org/California_Condor.html

The American Fisheries Society on the impact of lead in shooting and fishing sports (downloadable PDF)
http://www.fisheries.org/afs/docs/fisheries/fisheries_3305.pdf

U.S. National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/leadinfo.htm
Lead v. Copper Bullets Quicktime movie

photo credit: antjeverena

After a series of fits and starts and intense lobbying by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition (I kid you not, this is a real organization), the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban plastic bags from grocery and other stores. The ban is slated to go in effect by July 2010 if the state of California does not move forward with plans to require stores to collect a 25-cent fee on each plastic bag a customer requests.

The news comes on the heels of a much weaker plan voted on by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which voluntarily asks stores to encourage shoppers to bring their own bags.

Coastal Communities Happy, Bag Industry Sad

The Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay, and many neighbors in L.A.’s coastal communities and beyond support Wednesday’s move by the council. They say that ubiquitous plastic bags clog storm drains, litter city streets and beaches, harm wildlife, and add to an ever growing landfill.

Opponents, which include makers of plastic bags and the California Grocers Association, say the ban will have a devastating effect on the region’s packaging companies.

More Cities Poised to Ban Plastic Bags

San Francisco has already enacted a similar ban on plastic bags. Stores still offer free bags—usually paper, sometimes recyclable or compostable plastic. Based on anecdotal evidence, more shoppers bring their own bags. The cities of Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica are also in various stages of plans to reduce plastic shopping bag consumption.

Most of the San Franciscans we’ve talked to support the plastic bag ban. Sure, it can be a pain to remember to bring bags to the store. But while paper or cloth bags are bulkier and take up more closet space, they are also more durable and hold more items than the old plastic bags. Overall, it’s good to treat bag as a commodity that we value. It encourages everyone to reduce, re-use, and recycle.

More resources:

“L.A. City Council Votes for Ban on Plastic Shopping Bags,” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-plastic23-2008jul23,0,5875215.story

“Plastic Bag Plan Unravels,” Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bags23jan23,1,1494577.story

“Plastic Bags - Good Stuff?” Facts from the Worldwatch Institute
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1499

“S.F. First City to Ban Plastic Shopping Bags,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/28/MNGDROT5QN1.DTL