Inside this issue

Dear members: On 22 April, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. In the years leading up to the first Earth Day, the public was becoming more aware and concerned about the impact of pollution on the enviroment. One of the many catalysts that led to some of the regulatory, legislative, and grassroots changes in the following years was a major oil spill in 1969, the year before the first Earth Day, off the coast of California that dumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the ocean and spanned 35 miles.

It is fitting, then, that our cover story for the April issue (p. 3) is about another oil spill, the Deepwater Horizon spill, that happened 10 years ago. Crude oil, spilled over 87 days, impacted 687 miles of Gulf coast wetlands. The accumulated research on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill gives us a glimpse into its effects on the coastline and the organisms that live there. From the ground up, this article examines how the spill impacted the salt marsh soil, microbes, and plants that have been recovering for the past decade.

This issue, I’d also like to draw your attention to two articles recapping this year’s Congressional Visits Day (see p. 30–34). On 2–3 March, 78 Society members, students, Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs), and staff participated in the 2020 Congressional Visits Day. They met with more than 120 congressional offices advocating for increased funding for USDA research programs in fiscal year 2021. This is an annual event that any Society member can participate in. We encourage all Society members to engage in the various advocacy opportunities that the Society offers; you might be surprised how much you enjoy it.

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