Oiled Marshes Showing Signs of Recovery

Photographers are shooting photos of marsh grass and brushes of mangrove tree which are already showing a marked improvement, in a bay where just mere months ago, the same photographers were shooting images of dying pelicans smothered in the oppressie black oil from the Gulf Of Mexico oil spill.

Over a dozen researchers who were interviewed by The Associated Press have said that the marsh in the bay, as well as all along the coast of Louisiana, has begun to heal itself. This gives rise to the hope that the delicate wetlands might just pull through what is said to be the worst offshore oil spill in the history of the United States. Some marshland might just need to be written off, however the losses from the spill will seem laughable when compared to the large losses on the coast every year attributed to normal human development.

This past Tuesday, a small voyage through the Barataria Bay marsh revealed that there were thin shoots growing up through the mass of oily grasses. In other areas, there were still dead mangrove shrubs, no doubt killed by the oil, however even they showed signs of growth.

“These are areas that were black with oil,” explained, a temporary worker with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Matt Boasso.

It’s nice to know that when push comes to shove, mother nature still has a lot of shove left in her, and she won’t be letting a little thing like an oil spill get in the way of our planet’s ecology.