A couple weeks ago our summit delegation and the Isaac Bear Environmental Club went on a really neat guided boat tour along the Cape Fear River, where we learned a lot about both the good and bad aspects of the river.
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| The whole group on the boat tour. Megan is to the left. Over her shoulder is Captain Doug. In front of him is Dustin. Mr. Bishop is in the back. Keela is wearing green and Jessica is wearing pink. We were missing Evan. |
The Cape Fear River is one of the largest fresh water ecosystems on the East coast, and it is important that we preserve it as much as possible. One really interesting thing about the animals that reside near the river, are the birds that make their nests in the trees alongside the river. Most of the nests belonged to Osprey and they usually built them in dead cypress trees.
Even though our river is good for industry and leisure, over the past years there has been a huge problem with sea level rising, and how it effects fresh water environments like the river. When the sea levels begin rising in the ocean it pushes more and more salt upstream into the river. Eventually the river will become so salty that the plants that reside there won’t be able to survive.
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| Dead trees due to saltwater intrusion |
The boat trip was a really neat way to get firsthand knowledge on how Wilmington has been changing too! Our tour guide Doug was able to teach us about how Wilmington used to be compared to what it is now, and also plans for what the future of Wilmington could be like. The tour was really exciting for everyone and we learned a lot about the river.
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| Keela taping Doug and and Jessica taking notes |
Rivers can sometimes be overlooked when talking about how water is affected by global warming because a lot of the time the first thing you think of is the ocean. It is very important that we don’t forget our fresh water systems like the good old Cape Fear River!
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| The dark color of the water from the tannins. This is natural and caused by leaves similar to the way you make tea. |
~Keela
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