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

Source: NASA