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Document Title:
Mercury Assessment of Brandy Pond T39 MD, Maine
AUTHOR(S):
Steven E. Mierzykowski
REPORT NUMBER:
FY10-MEFO-3-EC
PAGES:
1 - 31
PUBLICATION DATE:
August 2011
ABSTRACT:
Brandy Pond is a remote, shallow, pond in east-central Maine. A bald eagle (Haliaeetus
leucocephalus) nest territory has existed on the pond since the mid 1960s. Since the
establishment of the nest, the bald eagle territory at Brandy Pond has had extremely poor
productivity. Researchers have collected ten non-viable eagle eggs at the pond over the past
five decades and mercury levels in eggs have chronically been well above suggested
reproductive effect thresholds.
The source of mercury contamination in the Brandy Pond watershed is not known. A tannery,
the Thirty-Nine Tannery, once existed approximately one mile northwest of Brandy Pond and
was active throughout the mid to late 1800s and early 20th century before burning around
1906. Buffalo Stream runs past the former tannery site and connects to the western shore of
Brandy Pond by an intermittent stream. The Thirty-Nine Tannery processed animal hides for
sole leather. The tannery process in Maine in the 1800s was primarily an organic or vegetable process
using tannic acids from hemlock bark. It is not known if the Thirty-Nine Tannery
switched to a chemical tanning process at the beginning of the 1900s. Mercury was once a
common element used in the leather tanning process. It has long been locally debated whether
mercury contamination in fish and wildlife from Brandy Pond is from the former tannery or
from other sources. Mercury in the pond may be more likely associated with watershed and
chemistry characteristics that influence the bioavailability of atmospherically-deposited
mercury.
To resolve the issue, sediments and fish were collected from Brandy Pond and from Eagle Lake,
a nearby reference lake, and analyzed for mercury. Sediments were also collected from Buffalo
Stream, above and below the location of the former tannery.
Region 5 ID: 53411-1130-5F47
DEQ ID: 200950004.1
PUBLISHED BY:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
DOCUMENT LINK:
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/mainecontaminants/pdf/5F47BrandyPondReport.pdf, 1 MB
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Maine Contaminants Program
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