NASA Supporting Gulf Oil Spill Wildlife Recovery

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July 14, 2010

Grey Hautaluoma 
Headquarters, Washington                               
202-358-0668 
grey.hautaluoma-1@xxxxxxxx 

Allard Beutel 
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.                               
321-867-2468 
allard.beutel@xxxxxxxx 

Pat Behnke 
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 
850-251-2130 
Pat.behnke@xxxxxxxxx 
RELEASE: 10-166

NASA SUPPORTING GULF OIL SPILL WILDLIFE RECOVERY

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Kennedy Space Center is helping with 
the unprecedented effort to save wildlife from the effects of the BP 
Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The first group of hatchlings from endangered sea turtle eggs brought 
from beaches along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast was released into the 
Atlantic Ocean off Kennedy's central Florida coast on July 11. 
Twenty-two Kemp's ridley turtles were set free on a Kennedy Space 
Center beach, which is part of the Canaveral National Seashore. 

After being collected on June 26, the Kemp's ridley nest from Walton 
County, Fla., was packed in a Styrofoam box with sand and transported 
by a specially-equipped FexEx truck to a secure, climate-controlled 
facility at Kennedy where it was monitored until incubation was 
complete. Most of the nests that will be collected are from 
loggerhead turtles, but nests from leatherback and green turtles, in 
addition to Kemp's ridley, may be brought to the Kennedy hatchery. 

Video of the hatchery at Kennedy, the nest and release of the first 
group of hatchlings is airing on NASA Television's Video File 
segment. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to 
streaming video, visit: 



http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 


Still images are available at: 



http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/index.cfm 


In an effort to have a minimal impact on the initial incubating eggs 
and hatchling releases, there are no opportunities currently planned 
for news media to visit the Kennedy hatchery or view a turtle 
release. However, as the ocean release process is refined, it is 
expected media opportunities will be scheduled. Media who want to be 
added to a notification list for opportunities should contact Pat 
Behnke at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. 

The release and relocation work is part of an environmental endeavor 
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife 
Conservation Commission, the National Park Service, NOAA, FedEx and 
conservationists to help minimize the risk to this year's sea turtle 
hatchlings from impacts of the oil spill. During the next several 
months, this plan involves carefully moving an anticipated 700 nests 
to Kennedy that have been laid on Florida Panhandle and Alabama 
beaches. 

The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 as 
an overlay of Kennedy Space Center, where it shares the land with 
space shuttle launch pads, rockets and research and development 
facilities. As part of the Deepwater Horizon Response, six brown 
pelicans, four laughing gulls and one common tern also were released 
at Kennedy on June 6. 

The complete turtle relocation plan, along with other wildlife related 
plans and recommended wildlife protocols, is available at: 



http://www.fws.gov/northflorida 


For information about the Deepwater Horizon Response, visit: 



http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com 





For more information about the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation 
Commission's oil spill response, visit: 



http://myfwc.com/OilSpill/index.htm 


For information about NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit: 



http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy 

	
-end-



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