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Audubon recognizes years of work on Sundown Island By Jane Howard Lee Published February 26, 2010 By JANE HOWARD LEEjane.lee@baytownsun.com When the brown pelicans that grace the Texas coastline fold up their broad wings and plunge into Gulf waters to catch fish, it warms the heart of one Baytown man. Chester Smith can tell you everything about the big birds, as he can of other birds that make the shores of Texas their home. The brown pelican isn’t his favorite shore bird; he reserves that honor for the reddish egret. But he is quite proud of the brown pelican’s comeback from the edge of extinction and his role in that. The brown pelican was removed from the U.S. Department of Interior’s endangered and threatened list last November, and quite a few people give a lot of the credit to Smith. The octogenarian Exxon retiree scoffs at that suggestion. He was but one of many volunteers and donors responsible, he said. Smith received recognition recently from the Audubon Society for his work on Sundown Island, which is a part of the society’s system of island sanctuaries along the Texas coast. At an event sponsored by Devon Energy, Smith was honored for his 25 years service as warden of Sundown Island and particularly for his efforts to help repopulate the brown pelican. Sundown Island, located in Matagorda Bay, was built with spoil material from dredging, then turned into a sort of bird paradise. The wardens of the island sanctuaries (and there are many of them along the Gulf Coast) manage them by patrolling and counting bird populations during the nesting season. They also control fire ants, plant shrubs and trees and monitor predator activity and erosion. The wardens organize volunteers and educate citizens, as well as (at least in Smith’s case) wrangle and plead for items needed to better protect the island and the birds that nest there. When Smith began his work on Sundown Island, there were only 10 pairs of brown pelicans nesting there and probably only 30 pairs along the Texas Gulf Coast. The brown pelican population had been devastated by the use of pesticide DDT, which scientists determined had, over the years, gotten into the water table, into the bays, the Gulf and the oceans, and thus into the fish eaten by birds. The DDT caused the shells of birds’ eggs to be too thin. Few hatched and the population dwindled. DDT was banned in 1970. Smith took over Sundown Island in 1987. Retiring from Exxon after 32 years, he began his second career as protector of Sundown Island and the approximately 30 species of birds who made their nests on the ground and in the bushes there. He has loved the work. The Audubon Society provides him with a 23-foot boat and some funding; volunteers help him with labor; some individuals and industries help him get what he needs; and the shorebirds provide the inspiration. Smith travels once a week from Baytown, where he has lived since 1929 and where he and wife Ilet raised six daughters and one son, to Port O’Connor, where he and Ilet have had a cabin for decades. He and any volunteers working with him go to the island and do such things as build nesting platforms, plant trees and create ponds. In 1998, Audubon created the annual Chester Smith Outstanding Conservationist Award and gave him the first one. He has received numerous other honors since then and has been featured in numerous publications, from newspapers and magazines to coffee table books. Smith thinks the recognition is OK, but what he really likes is to talk about the birds. “Last year, we counted 1,600 nesting pairs of brownies and last year my island and one more in Texas were designated as Important Birding Sites,” he said. For Smith, that means more interest from those people who call themselves “birders.” That interest can generate donations, more volunteers and more voices to support the interests of the Audubon Society in legislative circles. Ultimately, that means more help for his island. |
