- [Coyote] There is a lot of pollution in this marsh.
What we're gonna do now is take the next hour
to head off down into the marsh and pick up
some of the trash that we find.
That will ensure a healthy and happy ecosystem
for all the species that live here.
- Cool, there's somethin'.
I don't know what this is.
(upbeat jungle music)
(birds chirping)
(light synthesizer music)
- The Erie Islands are a unique bio-diverse ecosystem
and are home to a wide variety of animal species,
including the incredibly rare Blanding's turtle,
so making sure that its environment is free
of human-oriented pollution is of utmost importance.
Today we are on Middle Bass Island where an
isolated population of these turtles has been
discovered living in a small marsh.
This body of water has recently taken on a
heavy haul of pollution due to extreme storm surge.
Our goal is to clean things up.
All right, so we just finished filming with
one incredibly handsome Blanding's turtle
that lives right here in this marsh behind me.
But what I did notice, if you put your camera down here,
is there is a lot of pollution in this marsh.
Now, this pollution actually comes from storm surge.
Just on the other side of us here is Lake Erie,
and when that water rises, a lot of times it brings debris,
trash, wood, you name it, into a marsh like this.
Now, anytime we go to a location we oftentimes
have trash bags with us primarily to keep cameras
dry just in case it starts to rain.
But in this instance, I'm gonna take a bag,
Mario, I'm gonna hand a bag to you,
what we're gonna do now is take the next hour
to head off down into the marsh and pick up
some of the trash that we find.
That will ensure a healthy and happy ecosystem
for all the species that live here.
All right, pressing back to where we filmed
with the turtle to find some garbage.
Lots of pieces of styrofoam.
These probably come from boat buoys and stuff like that.
That does not biodegrade right there.
(light synthesizer music)
- Got a lot of random pieces of plastic.
Plastic, of course, remains in the environment
for thousands of years, actually.
It's very hard to break down naturally,
so you're gonna have lots of these random plastics.
- Look at this.
That's actually a fishing lure.
No hooks on it, which is good.
It means a turtle won't accidentally eat it
but we still wanna get it anyways.
All right, let's press this way into the underbrush.
Oh, there's somethin'.
I don't know what this is.
(splashing water)
That is a fake baby bottle right there.
Some little kid lost that one off a
boat at some point in time, I'm sure.
(dripping water)
(light upbeat synthesizer music)
- [Mario] Hey, Coyote,
I think you could reach this guy right here.
- Plastic floater right there.
Ooo, oh, that's glass.
(water splashing sound)
Grody, that is an old bottle right there,
I gotta be careful with that one so it
doesn't break and cut my hand.
It's gonna add a lot of weight.
Man, that's pretty nasty right there.
Look at this.
(scraping)
That is a giant lid to something.
Definitely does not belong in the environment.
I'm gonna toss this up on the road and pick it up.
It's not gonna fit in my bag.
Okay, I'll come back for that one.
- So, often it's the little pieces that are overlooked,
like bottle caps and plastic caps like this.
Oftentimes, these make a bigger impact in the
environment 'cause they're smaller.
You know, an animal could eat this
thinking it's an insect or somethin'.
But in this area right here you've got hundreds,
hundreds of pieces of these little plastics.
- Now, when it comes to pieces of wood,
I leave those because those are actually great
platforms for turtles to lay out on and bask.
Same with frogs.
Frogs will oftentimes come out
and sit in the sun to warm up.
All right, I got a lot of the trash back there.
- [Mario] How's it goin' so far?
- Oh, so far so good, man.
Look at this.
- [Mario] Ooo.
- It's an old bottle of somethin'.
That's just water in there.
Yeah.
- [Mario] What's your coolest find?
- Fishing lures.
I'm finding that there are a lot of fishing lures in here,
which is really bad.
The good news is the fishing lures strangely
do not have hooks, but fishing lures,
because they are little fish can oftentimes
be mistaken for food by turtles.
So I'm really glad to see that none of them had hooks,
and obviously, none of them were in the mouths of turtles.
But - [Mario] Nice.
- fishing lures are definitely
something I'm finding a lot of.
How's your bag doin'?
- It's doing good.
I'm focusing on a lot of the smaller objects,
so it may not be as heavy,
but there is a lot of little things in it.
There's a lot of tiny miscellaneous plastic
pieces that could go overlooked,
and those are quite dangerous because animals could
potentially swallow them if they're kind of bite size.
So yeah, that's what I'm tryin' to focus on,
these little plastic things.
Look at that, that's just a little cap right there.
- [Coyote] Nice.
I'm pretty maxed out, man.
- Oh yeah.
- That's a lot of garbage.
That's about 10 pounds worth of trash right there.
- [Mario] What time is it?
Oh, we are a little bit over an hour.
- It's been a little over an hour.
All right, I think, considering my bag is pretty full,
and I'm seeing a lot of duck weed and not a lot of
pollution it means I think we can call it a day.
I think we've done our job here.
- [Mario] All right.
- All right, good job.
Cleaning up the environment.
(splashing water)
Human encroachment is a major threat that animals like
the Blanding's turtles face on a constant basis.
And while we as a species are certainly here to stay,
there are many ways in which we
can help keep wild places clean.
One of the simplest steps is simply picking up litter.
Whether it's in a wetland ecosystem or your community park,
every little bit counts.
So if you have some extra time on your hands,
pick up a trash bag, head outside,
and see how much litter you can collect.
It's a fun way to ensure that the environment stays healthy,
and trust me when I say,
the animals greatly appreciate your kindness.
All right guys, well, the Blanding turtle's environment
is officially cleaned up to the best of our ability.
That's the largest piece I found.
Some sort of a plastic top to a container.
And between myself and Mario,
we collected around 25 pounds worth
of garbage out of this swamp.
Now, us coming out to collect it isn't
going to remove every single piece,
but every little bit helps.
I'm Coyote Peters sayin' be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next location.
If you love turtles as much as I do and missed our
fascinating encounter with the Blanding's turtle,
Make sure to go back and watch as I managed to get
this beautiful reptile up close for the cameras.
And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me
and the crew on our next location.
Yes.
- [Mario] Wooo (laughs).
- Yeah.
That is the Blanding's turtle, ladies and gentlemen.
One of the rarest turtles in the northeastern United States.
(jungle sounds)