Breton National Wildlife Refuge
The Breton National Wildlife Refuge is a sanctuary for wildlife and beach flora in the southeast of the US state Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico .
geography
The refuge includes the sandbanks of the Chandeleur Islands and the eponymous Breton Islands . The sandbars were deposited about 2000 years ago through the then existing northern exit of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, the St. Bernard Delta . Since then, they have changed in shape, size and vegetation due to the ebb and flow of the tides and especially the hurricanes that often hit land here . In particular, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which hit the sanctuary directly, destroyed large stretches of beach and marshland, as well as parts of the vegetation that are important for nest building and the breeding of the birds that live here or migrate here. The chain of islands moves further and further west.
Politically, the Breton Islands belong to the Plaquemines Parish Louisianas, the Chandeleur Islands to the north of the St. Bernard Parish . To the southwest of the reserve is Breton Sound and to the west of Chandeleur Sound , and to the east and southeast of the Gulf of Mexico.
history
The Breton National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1904 as the second sanctuary of its kind and was designed to end overexploitation by collecting bird eggs and other bird products. In 1915 President Theodore Roosevelt , a noted hunter and conservationist, visited the refuge. In the past 120 years, human activities on the islands have been reduced further: in 1915 the last fishermen and farmers left Breton Island with their families before an approaching hurricane. Their settlement was no longer built. After Hurricane Katrina, the lighthouse on the northern tip of Chandeleur Island, which had existed since the 19th century, was no longer visible, and the oil industry facility in the north of Breton Island has not been used since then. Nothing definite can be said about the future of the island chain today, as many of the sand deposits on which the island's vegetation is formed no longer exist.
The accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010 was averted by the rescuers of the island chain, but it had a major impact on the marine fauna and flora and thus on the food of the animal world on and near the islands.
Wildlife
The Breton National Wildlife Refuge is home to colonies of seabirds and waders and is winter quarters for migratory birds and waterfowl. Louisiana's heraldic bird, the brown pelican , has thousands of nests here. Other birds such as seagulls and terns also use the islands to build their nests. Ducks and other water birds find food and shelter here in the marshes and in the shallow water. The occurring mammals include the nutria , rabbits and raccoons , and the loggerhead sea turtle comes ashore here.
Flora
The black mangrove is one of the native plants in the protected area. The shallow waters are the habitats of various types of seaweed and the beach slab .
Use and conservation activities
To protect flora and fauna, only fishing and observing and photographing birds and other animals are allowed in the refuge. The US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) only interferes with nature to a limited extent. Sand traps have been set up to determine how sandbars are built up, which are constantly being attacked by tropical storms, hurricanes and tides. The service also makes counts of bird nests and bird colonies in order to determine the density of the populations and any changes. Brown pelicans are ringed to study the birds' migration and nesting habits.
