Cumberland Island dock challenged

– May 8, 2024 –

Good morning! We have a quick look today at the return of nesting sea turtles. Then we turn our attention to an alleged “ongoing aesthetic injury” on Cumberland Island. Finally we examine what our Congressman omitted when discussing a law that would block restrictions on the use of certain ammunition while hunting. Hint: It’s something already banned in gasoline and paint.

Questions, tips or concerns? Send us a note at staff@thecurrentga.org

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Sea turtles dig in

Nesting sea turtles are back! Loggerheads nest in the thousands on Georgia beaches thanks to decades of conservation work. This year’s nesting season started in a slightly unusual fashion. Cumberland Island, with its southernmost position, is often the first Peach State beach to report a nest. But its main nest watcher was busy with another project the last few weeks, Georgia Sea Turtle Coordinator Mark Dodd told The Current last week. Find out which islands claimed the first nest this year in this report from WABE/Grist’s Emily Jones.

To keep tabs on the progress of nesting in real time, visit www.seaturtle.org.

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Cumberland dock re-examined

Cumberland Island lovers didn’t have a chance to weigh in on the construction of a private dock at the national seashore before it was built. But they may eventually have that opportunity. An appeals court panel sent the issue back to a lower court for renewed scrutiny last week after determining the dock could well have imposed an “ongoing aesthetic injury.” That’s what the non-legal folks among us call an eyesore.

The Current’s Mary Landers has more on the story here.

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Rep. Carter leaves the lead out

In his weekly e-mail newsletter, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter on Sunday discussed his support for the proposed “Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act,” saying he and other house Republicans are “preventing any Administration from shutting off federal lands and waters access to America’s sportsmen and women by requiring the use of prohibitively expensive ammunition and fishing tackle.”

What he doesn’t say is that the ammunition and tackle in question is lead-based.

The bill, which the House approved May 1, is a response to a US Fish & Wildlife Service rule that bans the use of lead-based ammunition in certain refuges, none of them in Georgia. Carter, a pharmacist, condemned the rule in the House, saying, “To put it plainly this rule makes no sense.”

But lead is toxic for humans, other mammals and birds. A 2013 consensus statement signed by 30 scientists with expertise in lead and environmental health supports “the reduction and eventual elimination of lead released to the environment through the discharge of lead-based ammunition, in order to protect human and environmental health.”

Lead-free ammunition costs about 25% more than lead ammunition, the House Committee on Natural Resources reports.

Carter did not respond to a request for comment.

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Also noted:

• Savannah was much warmer than normal and wetter than normal last month. The average temperature of 68.3°F was 1.6° above normal, and the 5.06 inches of precipitation was 149% of the normal amount. Aprils in Savannah are getting hotter, leading to a change of 1.7°F since 1970, Climate Central Meteorologist Lauren Casey reports.
• Descendants of the Harris Neck community are working with specialists at the University of Georgia to develop a Gullah-Geechee plant guide, The Darien News reports. Attendees at an April 27 workshop at the Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge verified plant names with botanists and recorded their own plant stories for the Library of Congress.

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