Dallas Zoo’s Wild Earth Action Team is on a mission to conserve Texas native wildlife

On a current Saturday morning in east Oak Cliff, Dallas Zoo volunteer Thelva Balkus stood in a creek close to Herndon Park, pen and paper on the prepared.

In 90-degree warmth, about half a dozen different volunteers in vivid orange vests used reacher grabbers to choose up litter scattered all through the creek mattress.

Volunteers known as out each bit of trash — six beer-bottle caps and an eyeglass lens right here, two items of a plastic bag and a flip-flop there — as they bagged it up.

“It’s good for the surroundings and for the animals,” mentioned Balkus, 59, as she methodically categorized and tallied up every sort of particles. “It’s enjoyable, and the individuals are great that they provide up their time.”

Balkus is a volunteer with the Dallas Zoo’s Wild Earth Motion Staff, a gaggle that repeatedly conducts nature conservation tasks.

Whereas the group has been established for a number of years, tasks have begun once more in earnest after a short hiatus as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

Katie Emmons, conservation packages coordinator on the zoo, mentioned one of many objectives of the cleanups is to assist preserve mussels. Whereas folks don’t sometimes affiliate litter with mussels, air pollution may trigger vital issues in native waterways in the long run, she mentioned.

“[Mussels] are filter feeders, so they assist hold our waterways clear,” she mentioned. “Plastic doesn’t ever actually decompose; it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller items.

“We’re discovering that these items are getting so small that the mussels are in a position to filter them out of the water, which is nice for cleansing up our waterways, however then the mussels have litter air pollution of their programs and it’s making them sick.”

Elsewhere within the park, teams of volunteers picked up trash scattered round a playground and alongside the higher creek banks. All informed, they bagged 122 kilos of litter — together with a tire, a tiki torch and a 10-gallon tub.

On the finish of the cleanup, zoo employees logged the info right into a citizen science app.

“Our metropolis officers may look and see, ‘Oh, this park had numerous cigarette butts, possibly there’s not a correct disposal system there,’” Emmons mentioned. “For the broader scientific neighborhood, possibly they’re simply making an attempt to determine what kinds of trash we’re discovering in order that they’ll goal these industries or unfold extra schooling in regards to the particular litter air pollution issues.”

Emmons schedules month-to-month pickups throughout Dallas, which neighborhood members are welcome to participate in. Along with a handful of zoo employees, sometimes between a dozen and 20 volunteers attend every occasion, she mentioned.

“I like seeing the neighborhood come collectively and that they’re actually invested in taking motion for wildlife,” Emmons mentioned, echoing a sentiment expressed by most of the volunteers.

Neighbors round Herndon Park stood on porches and watched the workforce work. One man introduced donuts for the group to thank them for holding the neighborhood clear.

“The folks within the neighborhoods actually admire it, and so they come out and say thanks. It’s actually rewarding,” Balkus mentioned.

Later this yr, the Wild Earth Motion Staff will journey all through Texas for extra conservation tasks.

In July, employees and volunteers will go to South Padre Island for a seashore cleanup and nest safety work to assist sea turtles. In September, the workforce will head to San Antonio to work on invasive-species elimination and erosion management in an effort to preserve the area’s bat colony.

Every challenge has a “poster animal” that the workforce focuses on. These animals are chosen primarily based on one of many zoo’s 12 conservation priorities: defending Texas native wildlife.

“As considered one of our Defending the Twelve priorities, we now have Texas wildlife,” Emmons mentioned. “Although we don’t have them right here on the zoo, there’s species which might be actually necessary to our Texas ecosystem and so they’re additionally species which might be actually necessary to most of the people.”

Emmons finally hopes to plan conservation tasks throughout the USA.

However irrespective of the place the work takes place, employees and volunteers say they’re fulfilled figuring out they’ve a optimistic influence on the surroundings.

“It impacts the surroundings, so we all know that finally it impacts us as nicely,” mentioned Roxanne Welch, 56, who has been volunteering on the zoo together with her household for a number of years. “There’s plastic in every single place. If we are able to get it out, as a result of not many individuals choose it up, it’s an enormous distinction.”