Q&A with Erik Johnson on the Lasting Impact of the BP Oil Spill

On April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 individuals and spilling an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In remembrance of that catastrophe 15 years in the past, I sat down with Erik Johnson, Director of Conservation Science for Audubon Delta, to debate the way it formed the final 15 years.

Kelly McNab: What was your function throughout the BP oil spill and the way did you turn into concerned with Audubon?

Erik Johnson: In 2010, I used to be a Ph.D. candidate at Louisiana State College, engaged on my dissertation and making ready to graduate the next 12 months. Most of my fieldwork was finished when the Deepwater Horizon spill hit in April—and it rapidly turned clear this wasn’t going to be a short-lived occasion.

A fellow grad scholar in my lab, Jared Wolfe, had labored on Pure Useful resource Harm Evaluation (NRDA) efforts in California and had seen how group science—particularly birding teams—performed a major function in contributing to conservation efforts. That sort of grassroots effort didn’t actually exist within the Gulf, so he reached out to the Baton Rouge Audubon Society to arrange volunteers to observe the shoreline after the spill. He requested if I needed to be concerned, and I jumped on the probability, considering it might be a small facet mission. It rapidly turned rather more than that.

Inside days, we started mobilizing volunteers and shortly caught the eye of Audubon workers throughout the Gulf area. We constructed a volunteer community stretching from Galveston Bay to the Florida Panhandle, with volunteers amassing knowledge on oiled birds utilizing NRDA-aligned protocols. As a result of we weren’t sure by the authorized restrictions formal NRDA groups confronted, we might rapidly share what we have been seeing, publish numbers, and preserve the general public knowledgeable and engaged.

My function was organizing volunteers and serving to form the monitoring protocols, which needed to be versatile as a result of coastal entry continually shifted as seashores opened and closed. By way of November 2011, volunteer hen surveyors collected round 60,000 observations, which helped us perceive how steadily birds have been being oiled.

On the time, I wasn’t Audubon workers—only a volunteer. However the spill response helped spark broader investments within the Gulf. In 2011, I used to be employed as a Gulf Coast Regional Conservation Biologist to assist form a brand new regional technique. When Audubon Louisiana [now Audubon Delta] launched in 2012, I turned Director of Conservation and began constructing a state-level hen program.

That early volunteer effort turned the inspiration for the Audubon Coastal Bird Survey, which nonetheless runs in the present day—monitoring migratory and non-breeding shorebirds throughout the Gulf Coast via group science.

KM: How did you and your group measure and observe the speedy impacts of the spill on hen species? What have been the first strategies you used to gather knowledge?

EJ: When the spill occurred, eBird was nonetheless in its early days, however use by birders was turning into extra widespread. We labored with the eBird group so as to add NRDA oiling codes (from hint oil to completely oiled) so volunteers might log what they noticed. The aim wasn’t to depend each hen, however to evaluate particular person birds for oil and transfer on.

We documented round 1,000 visibly oiled birds, with the very best concentrations in southeast Louisiana. As you moved east or west from that space, oiling charges declined. Volunteers submitted observations as rapidly as doable, and the info gave us a snapshot of the place impacts have been most extreme.

Survey areas have been largely access-driven—Grand Isle and Elmer’s Island have been key areas early on, and infrequently, we might get out to barrier islands by boat. In Mississippi, even when seashores have been technically closed, volunteers might typically assess birds from the roadside utilizing recognizing scopes.

The surveying space stretched from the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas to the Panhandle of Florida. In areas with fewer restrictions, like Mississippi and Alabama, we have been capable of set up formal routes sooner. By fall 2010, we began organising related transects in Louisiana.

KM: Within the aftermath of the spill, was there one hen species that was most affected, and why?

EJ: Just a few species stood out after the spill. Brown Pelicans, Louisiana’s state hen, have been closely impacted, however powerful to evaluate within the subject due to their darkish plumage—mild oiling didn’t all the time present until you bought a detailed look. Laughing Gulls, against this, have been simpler to guage. They’re ample and have brilliant white feathers, so oil was extra seen, and we noticed quite a lot of them affected.

Shorebirds like Sanderlings have been particularly susceptible. These birds stay within the intertidal zone, continually operating up and down the seashore with the motion of the waves to feed on small invertebrates. As a result of they spend time in that slim band the place oil was washing in, they have been notably susceptible to publicity.

Whereas we targeted on seen oiling, researchers dug into the extra profound impacts. Research on Seaside Sparrows, Widespread Loons, and Brown Pelicans confirmed how even low-level publicity might have an effect on respiration, metabolism, and long-term well being. As a result of birds preen continually, even a small quantity of oil can result in ingestion, which might trigger inner harm and persistent situations over time. Groups from Louisiana State College, College of Louisiana at Lafayette, and others labored to grasp these long-term results.

KM: What have been a number of the most putting observations you made within the first few weeks or months after the spill?

EJ: One second that caught with me was seeing a Ruddy Turnstone that had been badly oiled. Regardless of its situation, it might nonetheless fly—simply sufficient to remain out of attain of anybody attempting to assist. I watched it wrestle, ultimately touchdown within the marsh the place it turned fully inaccessible. I used to be perhaps ten toes away, however I might do nothing. Conditions like that stick with you.

There was additionally an odd emotional rigidity to the work. On one hand, birding brings quite a lot of pleasure—it’s peaceable, rewarding, and even therapeutic. However throughout the spill response, going out to look at birds meant figuring out you’d seemingly see animals injured or struggling long-term results from oil publicity. That made the entire expertise emotionally complicated. It was a troublesome steadiness—attempting to remain targeted on the info whereas additionally processing the fact of what we have been witnessing.

And it wasn’t simply me. Dozens of volunteers willingly put themselves in that very same place. They have been on the market, day after day, observing the birds they liked whereas additionally having to doc the harm. It was extremely tense at occasions, and I tremendously respect the individuals who do this sort of work beneath these situations.

KM: What function did oil-covered habitats, like marshlands and seashores, play in shedding or disrupting hen populations?

Within the speedy aftermath, closely oiled areas skilled widespread vegetation die-off. One clear instance was Cat Island in Barataria Bay—a small mangrove island that had lengthy been a nesting web site for Brown Pelicans and different coastal birds. The island had already been deteriorating for years, however the oil spill successfully delivered the ultimate blow. The mangroves died, and with no root construction to carry the sediment in place, storms ultimately washed the island away. It had nesting pelicans in 2010; by 2011, it was gone.

It’s value noting that the lack of marsh habitat wasn’t simply momentary in lots of circumstances—it was everlasting. Within the Mississippi River Delta, the place sediment provide has been minimize off, nothing is rebuilding these eroded shorelines. As soon as that vegetation dies and the land washes away, it’s gone. And that’s a part of the harm that BP was finally held accountable for and why a lot of the settlement funding has gone towards coastal restoration.

The oil spill acted as an accelerant to current environmental threats in Gulf Coast ecosystems. Many threats to hen populations—like habitat loss—have been already in movement on account of sea stage rise, subsidence, and lowered sediment. However the spill sped issues up dramatically. Cat Island, for instance, was eroding, however the oil killed its mangroves and hastened its collapse inside a season.

Marsh edges noticed the identical impact. With out vegetation, erosion accelerated—land that may’ve lasted a decade was gone in months. And as land disappears quicker, close by habitats and nesting websites are put at even better threat.

In that sense, the spill didn’t simply add to the harm—it compounded it. It pushed an already burdened system nearer to the sting. For hen populations that rely on wholesome, intact coastal habitat, it meant better strain on nesting, roosting, and foraging areas. It additionally accelerated the urgency round coastal restoration efforts. In a panorama that’s already disappearing, the spill was each a literal and figurative insult to harm.

KM: What efforts have been remodeled the previous 15 years to revive hen habitats within the Gulf of Mexico? What has been profitable, and the place is there nonetheless room for enchancment?

EJ: Over the previous 15 years, BP settlement funds have fueled main restoration throughout the Gulf, with birds as one of many funding focus areas. Most bird-specific {dollars} have now been spent—and lots of the outcomes communicate for themselves.

Tasks like Queen Bess Island, Rabbit Island, and shortly Chandeleur and Terrebonne Houma Navigation Canal islands have restored a number of the most vital colonial nesting websites within the Western Hemisphere. Queen Bess, for instance, noticed pelicans return nearly instantly after restoration—quicker than anticipated and in massive numbers. That’s exactly what NRDA {dollars} have been meant to do: carry again what was misplaced.

Past the initiatives explicitly funded for birds, there’s additionally been a broad vary of habitat restoration efforts that not directly profit hen populations. The River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp project, as an illustration, isn’t a seabird habitat. Nonetheless, it performs a key function in strengthening the broader estuary system—benefiting species that depend on coastal forested wetlands. There have been a number of barrier island restoration efforts throughout the Gulf coast. These initiatives assist stabilize land, present increased elevation nesting areas, and create important habitat for species like Least Terns and Wilson’s Plovers.

There’s nonetheless work to do—particularly round long-term stewardship and monitoring—however the good points have been significant, measurable, and lasting.

KM: Given the anniversary, how do you view the broader implications of the BP oil spill on environmental insurance policies associated to grease drilling, habitat safety, and conservation of endangered species?

EJ: One of many greatest shifts after the BP oil spill was the overhaul of offshore power oversight. The Minerals Administration Service was changed by the Bureau of Power Administration (BOEM) in 2010—a transfer extensively seen as a step ahead in regulating offshore power initiatives extra responsibly.

Since then, BOEM has led efforts to develop offshore wind within the Gulf, figuring out 14 potential wind power areas in federal waters. Their course of has been deliberate and clear, with sturdy environmental critiques that contemplate every part from seabird distributions to endangered species impacts. They’ve additionally welcomed public enter and integrated that suggestions into their planning.

From a conservation standpoint, the shift towards renewables—if finished responsibly—advantages birds in every single place. Local weather change is already having measurable results on hen populations, even in distant locations just like the Amazon, the place species are bodily altering in response to shifting situations. So, whereas offshore wind improvement comes with its personal challenges, the long-term advantage of lowering our carbon footprint is important.

The oil spill uncovered severe gaps in offshore allowing and regulation—a number of the unique Deepwater Horizon permits, for instance, referenced species like walruses that don’t even stay within the Gulf, exhibiting simply how outdated and disconnected the system had turn into. The creation of BOEM and the reforms that adopted have been an vital a part of addressing these failures and setting a better customary for future power improvement.

Finally, we assist well-sited wind initiatives. Cautious planning—particularly in relation to the place and the way infrastructure is constructed—is crucial. However this broader transfer towards a diversified, U.S.-based, and responsibly managed power system is without doubt one of the extra significant long-term outcomes of the spill and its aftermath.

KM: How optimistic are you about the way forward for hen populations within the Gulf area as we stay up for the subsequent 15 years?

EJ: I’m fairly optimistic concerning the subsequent 15 years for Gulf Coast birds. Main investments in restoring habitat—barrier islands, nesting websites, stewardship— is paying off for species like Brown Pelicans, Least Terns, and Royal Terns. Black Skimmers are nonetheless a priority, however now we have now the info to trace and prioritize these declines—one thing we didn’t have in 2010.

The larger-scale restoration work additionally offers me hope. Tasks just like the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion and River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp are essential. Reconnecting the Mississippi River to its delta is how we assist long-term habitat for birds and different wildlife. We’ve already seen that in locations like West Bay and Wax Lake Outlet—the place river reconnection has led to new deltas forming and supporting thriving hen colonies.

So the 15-year outlook feels encouraging. The larger fear is the long-term—50 or 100 years from now—with sea-level rise and continued land loss. However in comparison with the place we have been in 2010, we’ve received higher instruments, higher knowledge, and actual momentum. That’s an excellent place to be.

KM: Anything so as to add?

EJ: One of many actually highly effective outcomes of the spill is how a lot scholar studying and profession improvement it sparked. The era that got here of age throughout or simply after the spill, had decisions to make about what sort of future they needed. And in quite a lot of circumstances, this occasion helped form these paths.

The funding that adopted created actual alternatives—for undergrads, grasp’s college students, Ph.D. candidates. I’d like to know what number of superior levels have been earned via finding out the Gulf since 2010. It should be within the hundreds. The spill and its aftermath impressed a era of conservation scientists, land managers, and coverage leaders.

It also created jobs—not simply in conservation, however metropolis planning, engineering, restoration, and water administration. There’s that stat that water administration in southeast Louisiana now outpaces oil and fuel, and it’s actual. This work has financial weight behind it.

A few of that comes from funding, however lots comes from individuals—bringing ardour, abilities, and new concepts. The delta is in disaster, and the state is investing greater than ever to repair it. That funding means jobs and long-term careers.

One of many extra underappreciated legacies of the oil spill is the way it seeded this entire era of pros devoted to restoring and defending the Gulf. And we’re a part of that—as a result of individuals paid consideration when it mattered.