Importance According to the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory, industry released over 120 million pounds of toxic waste to the air, water, or on land in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan in 2006. Similar amounts are released each year by industry in these and other states and provinces in the Great Lakes region. Some of this waste is transported elsewhere by air, some is confined to landfills, and some is degraded to harmless elements. But a portion of this waste ends up in the environment in the form of chemical contaminants that can persist for years, bioaccumulate in food webs, and become toxic to fish, wildlife, and humans.
The National Park Service has a responsibility to understand the levels and effects of these contaminants on natural systems they manage and to inform the visiting public of any human health hazards. In 2006 the NPS Great Lakes Inventory & Monitoring Network began monitoring selected contaminants that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic.
NPS/B. ROUTE
Bald Eagle Nestling
Long-term Monitoring We currently monitor six contaminants: mercury; lead; PCBs (95 congeners); DDT and its metabolites DDE and DDD; PFCs (16 telomers); and PBDEs (9 congeners). These six contaminants account for most of the impaired waters in Great Lakes Network parks. We monitor these contaminants in tissues of indicator species (sentinels). Our objectives are to:
Monitor patterns and levels of targeted contaminants that accumulate in sentinel species;
Monitor patterns and trends in the health and productivity of sentinel species;
Archive tissue samples from sentinel species and periodically investigate levels of new and emerging contaminants.
Monitoring is conducted under two protocols: one using bald eagles as sentinels at APIS, MISS, and SACN; and a second using fish and dragonflies at GRPO, INDU, ISRO, PIRO, SLBE, and VOYA.
Network park units with contaminant monitoring
Apostle Islands NL (Eagles)
Pictured Rocks NL (Fish)
Grand Portage NM (Fish)
St. Croix NSR (Eagles)
Indiana Dunes NL (Fish)
Sleeping Bear Dunes NL (Fish)
Isle Royale NP (Fish)
Voyageurs NP (Fish)
Mississippi NRRA ((Eagles)
NP = National Park; NM = National Monument; NL = National Lakeshore; NRRA = National River & Recreation Area; NSR = National Scenic Riverway
