A group of dedicated volunteers from Los Padres ForestWatch helps save California condor chicks from painful death or risky surgery, by picking up tiny bits of litter called microtrash.
During a recent mission in the rugged mountains north of Fillmore, I helped them collect debris like broken glass, bottle caps and bullet shells a few miles from an active condor nest and the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
Los Padres ForestWatch Executive Director Jeff Kuyper says they’re not sure why endangered condors are attracted to litter, but it’s such a danger that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked for help picking it up.
“We don’t know if it’s because it’s shiny and sparkly, if they’re just bored, or what the attraction is,” says Kuyper.
“But what they do is, the adult condors bring the microtrash back to their nests and then the young condors eat it, and they are not able to digest it or regurgitate it. So it starts accumulating in their stomachs. They can’t hold food in their stomachs anymore, and they basically starve to death.”
Condors nearly became extinct in the 1980s, and there have been extensive and costly efforts to restore the population of North America’s largest birds. Since many of the condors in the wild are closely monitored by scientists, they know when chicks are acting sick, and remove them from their nests. “They either need surgery to remove the microtrash from their stomachs, or they die,” says Kuyper.
Some of the areas the group cleans up are highly impacted by humans, and when they return every few months, they always find new trash. “It’s areas where people come up on the weekends. They bring up their six-packs of beer and drink their beers, and then get out their guns and shoot the beer bottles. So most of what we pick up are bullet shells and broken beer bottles,” says Kuyper.
Kuyper hopes that after people learn about the impact that microtrash is having on condor chicks, they’ll clean up the mess they make. “People don’t think that leaving a few shards of glass behind or some bullet shells will really make a difference or result in any harm being done. I think once people understand that their actions are having an impact and seriously affecting the recovery of the California condor, hopefully, they’ll think twice and be able to change their ways. It’s a long process and it’s not going to change overnight, and so we have to do what we do in the meantime, which is come out here and pick their stuff up,” says Kuyper.
In addition to the day trips to impacted sites, ForestWatch organizes about once a month, it also has occasional weekend campouts at more remote locations where the volunteers get to gather around a campfire and spend some time enjoying the forest. More information on upcoming events is on the web at
www.lpfw.org.
Joyce Gibbs was one of the volunteers I met while helping out. “I feel like I’m doing my part for society and conservation and for the good of the condors,” says Gibbs. “I’m pleased to be part of the group.”
Kuyper says encountering a condor in the forest is an experience that’s never forgotten. “It’s a truly majestic bird when you see one in the wild. They glide effortlessly through the air, and it’s a really fascinating bird,” says Kuyper. “Their population is slowly growing and, hopefully, one day we’ll all be able to see condors flying in the wild.”
Ventura County Online
