Bucket Brigade Gallery -- National Geographic Education

Community Cleanup
Photograph by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Prentice Danner, courtesy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Gulf Coast residents—even pint-sized ones—have helped environmental agencies, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, identify areas of environmental degredation following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Here, Petty Officer 1st Class Matt Fisher, kneeling, and Petty Officer 1st Class James Huddleston, marine science technicians at Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston, inspect a potential tarball on Stewart Beach, Texas.
Oily Oysters
Photograph by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (AW/SW) Jonathen E. Davis, courtesy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Using tools such as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's Oil Spill Crisis Map, local residents can report individual incidents caused by the explosion of the offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon. Residents and clean-up crews have reported many incidents of ecosystems being infiltrated with oil. Here, an oyster on Racoon Island, Louisiana, is covered with oil. Raccoon Island is a protected bird breeding sanctuary rich in biodiversity.
Explaining the Recovery Effort
Photograph by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall, courtesy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Local residents and members of responding agencies discuss Deepwater Horizon response efforts at an environmental expo held at the Grand Isle Community Center in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The expo offered the public an opportunity to speak with representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, and BP.
Mapping the Cleanup
Photograph by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall, courtesy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
David Fashimpur, a BP representative, displays a pom-pom-shaped snare sentinel to the public at an environmental expo held at the Grand Isle Community Center in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The sentinels are deployed at various depths into the water to determine the presence of oil beneath the ocean surface. Cleanup crews employed by oil companies, environmental organizations, and the government have worked with Gulf Coast residents to assess the damage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on April 20, 2010.
Clean Pelicans
Photograph by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nick Ameen, courtesy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Two brown pelicans stretch their wings after being released at Gulfside City Park in Sanibel Island, Florida. Twenty-one pelicans and 11 northern gannets were rehabilitated and then transported to southwest Florida aboard a Coast Guard aircraft after being found oiled near the coasts of Louisiana and Alabama. Gulf Coast residents, as well as cleanup crews and Coast Guard personnel, contributed to the massive recovery effort following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Using tools such as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's Oil Spill Crisis Map, people can instantly document the effects of the spill, from oiled seabirds to loss of employment due to the devastated fishing industry in the Gulf.