Padre Island National Seashore

Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS) is a National Seashore located on Padre Island off the coast of South Texas. In contrast to South Padre Island (well known for its beaches and vacationing college students), PINS is located on North Padre Island and consists of a long beach where nature is preserved. Primitive camping is available there and most of the beach is only accessible to four wheel drive vehicles.

North Padre Island is the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world. The National Seashore is 70 miles (110 km) long with 65.5 miles (105.4 km) of Gulf beach. The Park hosts a variety of pristine beach, dune, and tidal flat environments,^[1] including the Laguna Madre on its west coast, a famous spot for windsurfing. It is located in parts of Kleberg, Kenedy, and Willacy counties, with Kenedy County having the majority of its land area.

The acronym PAIS is the standard National Park Service acronym using either the first four letters of the park's name, or the first two letters of the first and second word in the name. The most commonly used acronym outside of the National Park Service usage is to use the first letter of each word, as in PINS.

Kemp's Ridley sea turtles

A program to re-establish a nesting beach for Kemp's Ridley sea turtles on Padre Island was begun in 1978. In 1992, the first two turtles from the program returned to Padre Island beach to lay their eggs. The number of Kemp's Ridley sea turtle nests on Padre Island has increased ever since with 28 being found in 2005. Park rangers at PINS are involved in an effort to help this endangered species. In the summer, visitors can witness the release of newborn turtles.

On September 2007, Corpus Christi, Texas wildlife officials found a record of 128 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches, including 81 on North Padre Island (Padre Island National Seashore) and 4 on Mustang Island. Wildlife officials released 10,594 Kemp's ridleys hatchlings along the Texas coast this year. The turtles are endangered due to shrimpers' nets and they are popular in Mexico as boot material and food.^[2]

Birdwatching

Due to the location of Padre Island National Seashore on the Central Flyway, a major migratory route for birds, about 380 species of birds have been documented within the park, which represents approximately 45% of all bird species documented within North America. The park was designated as a "Globally Important Bird Area" by the American Bird Conservancy in 1998 for providing an "important habitat for globally significant numbers of Brown Pelicans, Redheads (5% of the world's population), Least Terns (8% of the North American population), Piping Plovers (10% of the world's population), Reddish Egrets (7% of the biogeographic population) and Peregrine Falcons (7% of the North American population).^[3]

The best time to see the multitude of the park's bird migrants is during either early spring or fall and winter when thousands spend the winter there or migrate through. During the summer the most common birds are shore and marshbirds as well as some raptors and songbirds. The most common birds on the Gulf beach of the park during the year are the Willet, Sanderling, Black Skimmer, Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, Cattle Egret, Grey Plover, Laughing Gull, Brown Pelican, Reddish Egret, and five species of terns, including the Least Tern, Caspian Tern, Black Tern, Sandwich Tern, and Royal Tern). The two periodically appearing birds nesting on the park's shores are the Least Tern and Piping Plover.^[3]

Bird Island Basin, on the Laguna Madre side of the park, may be periodically dry during the summer or during periods of extended drought. It is home to a wide variety of birds when wet, including Black-necked Stilts, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, American White Ibis, and many others.^[3]

Shoreline trash

During periods throughout the summer months there may be a large amount of Sargassum, a brown seaweed, that washes up on the shore which aids in shore development by acting to hold sand in place, which can eventually build up the shoreline. Currents within the Gulf of Mexico are responsible for the transport of this seaweed mainly from the Sargasso Sea, but have also been responsible for the transport of trash to the shores of the park. This trash can be anything that is tossed overboard into the Gulf of Mexico as well as items that are either washed into the Gulf from land, or from the interior of the country by means of sewers that empty into the Gulf. These items can range from tiny pieces of plastic, hypodermic needles, and lumber, to nets or bleach bottles tossed overboard by shrimpers and even objects as large as buoys and steel containers. An international treaty known as MARPOL is designed to limit the dumping of wastes into the Gulf^[4] but there can be violators and the enforcement of the treaty is difficult, as well as the fact that some trash can originate from sewage transport or even come from the Equator.^[5] Oil and tar can commonly wash up onto the beaches as well, 94% of which originates from oil spills, engine lubrication oil, and tanker washings. The park relies on a "grass roots" policy that encourages park visitors to take more trash out than they bring in.

A study by the park, started in 1994, to analyze the origin of debris, titled the PINS Marine Debris Point Source Investigation. The park began collecting data in 1998 to catalogue and remove debris from 16 miles (26 km) of beach. Currently the park has collected over 1,000 days of data for the project, covering a collective area of over 16,800 miles (27,000 km) of shoreline surveyed. This study is one of the first long-term and comprehensive marine debris research projects started within the United States. From its result the vast majority of the debris is traced to the commercial shrimping industry while approximately 14% comes from the offshore oil and gas industry.^[6]

Oil and natural gas drilling

Oil and natural gas drilling is allowed within the park due to the inability of Congress to approve the purchase of the mineral rights within the park's boundaries after surveying the land in 1957.[1] This has caused some controversy because the land is a protected seascape under IUCAN and the necessity to use heavy equipment within the park as well as its transportation across beaches that are nesting areas for not only sea turtles but many birds, including the piping plover, least tern, and other animals that may nest within the park.

References

1. ^ "Geological Wonders". National Park Service website. http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/geologic_wonders/13_18list.cfm. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
2. ^ Yahoo.com, Endangered turtle nests found in Texas
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Birdwatching". Padre Island National Seashore. National Parks Service. http://www.nps.gov/pais/planyourvisit/birdwatching.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
4. ^ http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?doc_id=678&topic_id=258
5. ^ Handbook of Texas Online - GULF OF MEXICO
6. ^ Padre Island National Seashore - Shoreline Trash (U.S. National Park Service)

External links

• National Park Service: Padre Island National Seashore
• "GORP" review of PINS
• Sea Turtle, Inc. - Kemp's ridley sea turtle nesting protection at PINS
• National Park Service: Sea Turtle Science and Recovery at PAIS
• National Park Service: Padre Island National Seashore, Birdwatching
• A philosophical meditation on the value of a National Seashore

Categories: IUCN Category V | Kenedy County, Texas | Kleberg County, Texas | National Seashores of the United States | Willacy County, Texas | Protected areas established in 1962 | United States National Park Service areas in Texas