Posted on November 16, 2007

An ad hoc group of bird rescuers say waterfowl oiled from last week's spill in the bay are being neglected by government officials on Richmond's beaches and so they are taking matters into their own hands, going up and down the city's shoreline trying to keep dogs and joggers from chasing the fragile creatures back into the bay. The group of 12 East Bay residents has collected 50 oiled birds since last Friday and sent them to be cleaned at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia.

Volunteers said in recent days large swaths of the Richmond waterfront remained open and people and their pets were scaring sick birds back into the water, further threatening their chances for survival. They said they complained to state and city officials to no avail.

"I wish there had been a better official response earlier," said volunteer bird rescuer Lisa Owens of Berkeley, who started working Friday with other volunteers to net as many oiled birds as possible. "We're trying to step in where we see this huge vacuum."

On Thursday, their pleas for help appeared to have been answered. Contractors for the Coast Guard as well as crews from East Bay Regional Park District were out cleaning and cordoning off the shoreline and looking for injured and dead birds.

Owens, who learned how to handle wild birds as an employee and volunteer for a Marin rehabilitation hospital, said her group plans to reconvene Friday and collect any birds the international rescue center and park district workers haven't been able to capture.

"I'm glad we've picked up every bird we've picked up," Owens said. "It's better than having them out there freezing to death or being eaten by a predator and have this toxic waste going further up the food chain."

The volunteers are not alone in criticizing the official response in Richmond, which has 32 miles of shoreline. "There needs to be a far greater state and official response," said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who plans a meeting this morning for people interested in volunteering in the cleanup effort. [emphasis added]

Contra Costa County hazardous materials specialist Eric Jonsson said crews from his office were in the field assessing the damage from the spill and planning for cleanup beginning Nov. 8, the morning after the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the Bay Bridge. Since then, they've combed beaches along Richmond's shoreline half a dozen times, collecting two tons of oil and tar, which began showing up midmorning Nov. 8. Booms were set out to protect sensitive habitats offshore around Brooks Island and onshore leading to the Hoffman Slough.

"We feel good most of the beaches in Richmond are clean," Jonsson said. People who see oil on Richmond's shoreline should call Contra Costa hazardous materials officials at (925) 646-2286. The hot line for reporting oiled birds or animals is (510) 544-2201.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Cilley said shoreline assessment teams were out last Friday and found moderate oil on Richmond beaches. He denied the accusations by volunteers that Richmond's shoreline got short shrift. "We can't hit every beach at the same time," he said. "Our crews are doing the best they can to arrive at these beaches and get them restored to how they were before."

A spokeswoman for the East Bay Regional Park District said dozens of cleanup crews and volunteers have been out along the district's 21 miles of beaches and shoreline and they have collected 100 live, oiled birds. "This is an evolving situation, a horrible situation," said spokeswoman Carol Johnson. "We applaud the volunteers. We are out there doing the best we can."

But she and others cautioned those who try to clean up oil themselves to do so only after receiving training. The bunker fuel is toxic, and the history of other spills does not bode well for anyone venturing out with gloves but no special knowledge.

After the spill of 67,000 tons of oil in 2002 from the Prestige tanker off Spain's coast, more than 1,500 cleanup workers reported headaches, rashes and breathing troubles. And lawsuits are still being heard from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska, charging that thousands of workers were hurt.

Marilyn Raia, a civil lawyer in San Francisco who specializes in maritime law, said if volunteers pick up oil on their own without proper training, they won't have much standing to bring lawsuits. "People assume the risk if they go," she said.

E-mail the writers at cheredia@sfchronicle.com and kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 20 of the San Francisco Chronicle