Update 5/25/2015 –
Please be advised that the most current and up to date information regarding the oil spill and especially its impacts to COPR and the Snowy Plover nesting site are available on our Facebook page. Click the Facebook icon at the top of any page on our site.
Below is an update letter to our membership on the Refugio oil spill from the leadership of SBAS.
Audubon has received word from Cris Sandoval, Director of Coal Oil Point Reserve, that the Refugio oil spill is starting to affect COPR. COPR could use help from Audubon volunteers to deal with this situation for the next few days.
This is the peak of the Snowy Plover breeding season. There are nests and chicks on the beach. To reduce the impact of the spill on the plovers, COPR would like volunteers to act as extra docents on the beach. Volunteers will help COPR by directing people away from areas where they might disturb nests and chicks. If volunteers find oiled birds they can help by calling the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at 877.823.6926.
Volunteers will not be asked and should not clean up oil on the beach. Only trained personnel will do oil cleanup.
SBAS members should contact Jessica Nielsen, Conservation Specialist at COPR, to make arrangements to volunteer: email hidden; JavaScript is required or (760) 822-8406.
General SBAS Comments on the Oil Spill
The pictures of the Refugio Beach oil spill are heart-wrenching. We all want to know how we can support the response to this spill, yet the public has been ordered to stay away from the closed-off areas.
What are other ways that SBAS members can help? Links to media articles are now on our website.
You may also go to California Volunteers and Cal Spill Watch for the latest status.
If you find any oil-coated wildlife, please do not approach or try to pick it up yourself; call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at 877.823.6926.
In parallel, the Santa Barbara Audubon Society has notified the S.B. Wildlife Care Network and the Office of Spill Prevention and Response that we are standing by, willing to mobilize volunteers when needed.
Thank you,
Dolores Pollock and Steve Ferry, Co-Presidents
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Cherie Topper, Executive Director
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