{
    "video": {
        "cuepoints": "", 
        "description": "<p>September 23, 2010\u2014The BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico sent oil into wetlands frequented by migrating birds. In response, U.S. farmers are flooding fields as far north as Missouri to create alternative, untainted stopovers for birds heading south for the winter.</p>", 
        "is_us_only": "false", 
        "title": "Flooding Farms on Purpose\u2014For the Birds", 
        "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/environment-news/nsf-oil-flooded-fields-vin/", 
        "country_code_deny_list": [], 
        "allowUserEmbed": "True", 
        "related": {
            "link": [
                {
                    "url": "http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/great-migrations/", 
                    "name": "Watch Great Migrations on the National Geographic Channel"
                }, 
                {
                    "url": "http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100917-nsf-oil-marshes-video/", 
                    "name": "Giant Vacuum to Help Bugs in Oiled Marshes? "
                }
            ]
        }, 
        "credit": " 2010 National Geographic; partially funded by NSF; field producing and videography by Fritz Faerber", 
        "smil": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/data/xml/nsf-oil-flooded-fields-vin.smil", 
        "country_code_allow_list": [], 
        "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/nsf-oil-flooded-fields-vin/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", 
        "still": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/exposure/transcode/0/615/346/?url=http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/media/nsf-oil-flooded-fields-vin/nsf-oil-flooded-fields-vin_480x360.jpg", 
        "transcript": "<p class=\"MsoNormal\">SOME OF THE COASTAL INHABITANTS NEAR THE GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL REGION ARE ONLY TEMPORARY RESIDENTS.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">AND ON THEIR WAY TO THEIR WINTER HOMES, MILLIONS OF MIGRATING BIRDS STOP OVER.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">PEOPLE  ARE TAKING SOME EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES IN HOPES THAT THE BIRDS WILL  TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE OTHER, UNTAINTED WETLANDS IN PLACE OF THEIR NORMAL  SPOTS.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">THE MASSIVE OIL SPILL IS DRAWING  TOGETHER A WIDE GROUP OF SCIENTISTS, GOVERNMENT BIOLOGISTS,  ENVIRONMENTALISTS, HUNTERS AND PRIVATE LANDOWNERS.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">Soundbite: John Pitre, Wildlife Biologist, USDA Wildlife Resources Conservation Service</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cThere\u2019s  a lot of birds that migrate through Louisiana. And a lot of them  require wet habitat. And there\u2019s not a lot of wet habitat left. We have a  lot of wet agriculture that greatly benefits them- rice farming,  crawfish farming, but by tweaking that operation just a little bit to  add water and plant manipulations before or after typical operations it  greatly benefits those birds.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">PITRE HELPED WRITE  A HABITAT PROGRAM INTENDED TO HELP THE FALL AND WINTER ARRIVALS.  THEY\u2019RE LITERALLY FLOODING FARMERS\u2019 FIELDS TO \u2018CREATE\u2019 NEW WETLANDS,  LIKE THIS FIELD IN JEFFERSON DAVIS PARISH, IN WESTERN LOUISIANA.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">THE MIGRATORY BIRD HABITAT INITIATIVE AIMS TO CREATE CONDITIONS TO MIMIC NATURAL HABITAT FOR MANY DIFFERENT BIRDS.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">Soundbite: Pitre</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cYou  have an extremely large amount of birds- different suites of species  from birds that use saturated soil to birds that use deepwater, all  coming from northern breeding grounds down through the Continental  United States, down to Lousiana.. the end of the Mississippi flyway.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">THE EFFORT COVERS 8 STATES, AS FAR NORTH AS MISSOURI.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">BIOLOGISTS HOPE THESE LANDS WILL LURE MANY ANIMALS TO STEER CLEAR OF OIL-TAINTED WETLANDS IN LOUISIANA AND OTHER COASTAL STATES.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">Soundbite:  Pitre\u00a0 \u201cRight now we know there are birds that use that intertidal  area, pelicans, terns, gulls. We know they\u2019ve been impacted. We don\u2019t  know how much sandpipers, or waterfowl that haven\u2019t even migrated\u2026 we  don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to be impacted. But providing this habitat  is a good thing to do, and it gives them alternative spots.\u201d</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">A  LOOK AT THE FIELDS SHOWS THEY ATTRACT MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIRDS \u2013  FROM IBISES AND HERONS TO SANDPIPERS, DUCKS AND OTHER WATERFOWL POPULAR  WITH HUNTERS\u2026 SOME OF WHOM ARE ALSO FARMERS HELPING IN THE EFFORT.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">Soundbite: Dwayne Compton, Farmer, Owner Compton Farms</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cWe\u2019re  trying to stop the birds. They came out with this program and they said  this will help stop the birds and ducks and all the migratory waterfowl  heading down south.\u201d</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">COMPTON IS A RICE FARMER,  AND SAYS HE KEEPS A LOT OF HIS LAND FALLOW FOR UP TO THREE YEARS. WHILE  THOSE FIELDS ARE IDLE, IT\u2019S AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP THE BIRDS.</p><p class=\"MsoNormal\">Soundbite:  Compton \u201cI like the fact that when you drive around all those birds are  there. And, I\u2019m telling you before I cranked the pumps up they weren\u2019t  there at all. It definitely works. If you had been here a week ago, you  would see the difference.\u201d</p><p>IT IS STILL FAR TOO  EARLY TO KNOW HOW THE SPILL WILL IMPACT MIGRATING BIRDS. BUT SO MANY  FARMERS HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THIS INITIATIVE THAT THERE IS A LONG WAITING  LIST TO BE INCLUDED</p>", 
        "id": "nsf-oil-flooded-fields-vin"
    }
}