The life of an oil spill

9 Boom on river, angled to shunt oil to shore, where it can be picked up with vac trucks and skimmers 1 SITE OF SPILL 6 Airboat heading up Crews with shovels, backhoes, bobcats, removing affected grasses, trees, etc Owl effigies, mylar tape, and other scare tactics used to keep wildlife away river to identify areas of built-up crude Boom on river, protecting water intake O Slack water where workers soak up oil with absorbent material O Oil spilled on shore by floodwaters, left in mud, grasses, trees, woody debris when water retreats 8 Back eddy or slack water area where skimmers and vac trucks can be used to clean up oil Worker applying nutrients to oil to speed natural degrada- tion in areas where it does too much harm to clean it up MATTHEW BAMBACH AND NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE/THE GLOBE AND MAIL