Providence trip report: 1

Drew Whelan’s report to the ABA conference at Providence, R.I., about disaster response along the Gulf Coast to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is less than encouraging. Cleanup efforts are hindered, it appears, in any number of ways—from well-intentioned protocols that protect NWRs, to corporate bungling. Drew’s images of oil-soaked booms washed ashore into coastal marshes and apparently abandoned are especially disheartening.

The American Birding Association continues to collect funds in support of recovery efforts.