Hiking the Marshlands

Remember this: Standing on a bank, observing the world, has never hurt a crab. One swoop of the federal pen and it could be ruined.

I was scheduled to attend a special event. Being the wayward gal I am, I decided to pull into this little non-descript hiking trail off a major highway. Going in, it is a short road, littered with houses. I parked and collected my backpack; never leave home without it because of the all-important mosquito spray. 

It was a cool day. The mosquitoes where out still, while trying to suck the life’s blood out of me. One thing I noticed about these mosquitoes is: Marsh mosquitoes will bite you, causing a small, red irritation to your skin, with no pain or raised area on the skin versus inland mosquitoes biting you, giving you extreme pain and swelling on your skin that is worse than a Tuberculosis test.

It’s an observation. Anyone want to do research on that?

I walked a small way and found a well-built stairwell leading to a canoe launch nestled along a channel of dark-colored water filled with fish breaching the surface. I could see the marsh meadow across the waterway, which was the length of a boat. The air was clean to breathe, because you notice it. It helps drain the sinuses.

When the tide is low, you can stand on the man-made boardwalks and observe the mud with an unnumbered amount of holes made by air coming from somewhere or something underneath. Marsh grass defiantly stands to sway in the breeze, as cover for life below. Its root system holds onto the organic substrates provided.

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The main preoccupation is the beauty of it all. It is not a mountainous vista, or even an epic aerial view of a majestic waterfall. It is a progressive changing of a story from ocean to woody bank. You have everything happening out in the ocean, and then the story creeps in towards dry land with an array of characters, settings, and action.  

The hike is a round trip of seven miles along a creek. I hiked along the bank on the marsh side. During August and September, there is an influx of rain coming in as Dog Days. This elicits a response in the detritus, causing mushroom blooms of all kins and kinds.

My first introduction was the wooded wetlands on the bank. I walked on into wet meadows of beige colored grasses before I turned back.

When you consider the reality that this particular marsh is between the ocean and human communities, it has nowhere to go but where it is. Depending on the tidal movement, the natural inclination to shift, as it did in earlier times, has become a challenge. 

This idea gives rise to the truth: If there is an oil spill, recuperation could be highly problematic, and negatively impacting in the long term based on a decision by government to accommodate corporations.

The marsh moved I said?

Studies have shown that tree die-off, and the shifting marsh zone can help grasses and plants migrate inward. This could have been beneficial with open areas, but now questionable because of human habitation on habitat fragmented areas.

A marsh as a location is a living thing. Oysters filter the water. Small fiddler crabs race around under the transversing boardwalks looking for food. Birds of every species are everywhere; all manner of unseen thing living in the mud, contributing to the overall function of life systems. Yet, this could have a wound imparted on the location and inhabitants dwelling there by the fatal swoop of a pen.

It is common knowledge that there is a hot debate and action against the federal government questing to have exploration off-shore drilling in the Atlantic. The supporting argument is American independence from outside entities over natural resources and employment opportunities.

The opposing argument is: Stop being dependent on big oil, destruction of habitat, loss of employment opportunities already in place using state natural resources, and knowing when something is a bad idea based on previous oil spill disasters, and above all things the long and short-term costs to all living things.

The American people do not have a wallet that thick.

The general public has already learned from a major oil spill. Why do we chase after another potential oil spill when we already know it is a bad idea from past experience?

The coastal communities are speaking and reaffirming a big “No”. This is a commonsense response from people living in the area that will be affected.

People will protect their home, not run from it.

The argument of bringing jobs is always verbalized, but translated it means: We will give jobs to other people from other states, not South Carolina. As an example, there was a gun company to move to the area. The company stated they would bring employees from their other areas instead of hiring locals.

What good does it serve, when bringing in businesses and employment that is geared to non-residents of a state, when that business is benefiting off of the state and the money of its constituents, through buying and selling product?

This alludes to reason for questioning motives on why big oil is a good idea.

The argument of America becoming independent from foreign entities based around big oil use brings up the questions of: What is really going on with the natural resource discussion in governments, both international and national.

I pondered the idea that if it weren’t for time and money, the American people has a slew of intelligent people at their fingertips to solve problems with other options but they are held back by legalities, dismissal, and lack of credentials. There could be more.

When you look at the reasons to oppose something, even with assurance from the companies planning to utilize the area and reap the benefits, the idea the locals have to live with a disastrous wound to the ecosystem is a lot to ask for greed.

This isn’t as simple as going out and looking at a tract of wetland. That place is alive, can’t speak for itself, or protect itself from an invasive act brought on by non-local entities.

Who wants to look at an oil rig that acts in every way like a virus and be accepting of it? What happens when the virus goes array? It spreads everywhere.

The degrees of oil impact are:

• Types and amount of oil
• Extent of coverage
• Species destruction
• Season of spills
• Soil composition
• Flushing rate

Depending on the biodiversity of a marsh, there can be different rates of impact in the way organisms react, how they assimilate the foreign substance in the habitat, their survival and mortality, when dealing with oil that has been introduced into the habitat.

Marshlands, per research and documentation, are notorious for its inability to return to pre-oil spill conditions. Certain wetlands can act as reservoirs, taking up excess oil and leaching to adjacent habitats in coastal areas. This causes long-term problems for the ecosystem as a whole. The higher the organic matter in the soils the longer it stays, affecting everything, even the local people.

When you consider the activities used to treat the problem of an oil spill, there is a lot of human trampling to address the problem. There is destruction by an oil spill, and the response is to go in and further incur destruction to a zone just to improve or remedy the situation. 

I would believe the best response is to not incur destruction initially.

Spilled oil is a problem. It is not milk.

Oil coats and smothers. Animal mortality during oil spills is due to smothering and the toxic effects. Seabirds lose their ability to repel water and lose feather insulation. Creatures inhabiting the tidal and marshland zones experience a disturbance in reproduction, egg-laying, challenged feeding grounds, and fish experience toxicity and there is a reduction in benthic species on which they feed. One can also consider water quality, and the contents of organisms therein, that make up the filtration systems of wastes.

Does any parent want to take their child out to the beach and marsh for them to see crude? Look at that oil spill. Isn't it fabulous? Tourists will swarm here just to see it. Only the Clampetts can appreciate it.

When an observer and local weighs in on the loss of grass species, crustaceans, invertebrates, wildlife, sediment and water quality, and a number of other factors, it doesn’t appear to be a valid argument for oil rigs in the Atlantic. Money just cannot replace what is lost; it is just oil smothered paper burning.

Think about it. And yet, Dear Reader, I am not through....

Written by: Angelia Y Larrimore