Environmental Pollution and Ecotoxicology in North Carolina
Key Projects
Neuse River Upstream of Milburnie Dam. Credit: USFWS
The Service’s Environmental Contaminants Program collects and interprets data to help the public, regulators, and other decision makers. With the removal of Milburnie Dam under consideration, we coordinated an investigation of sediment pollution as technical assistance to interested stakeholders. Our final report demonstrates that concentrations of heavy metals and hydrocarbons in sediments upstream of the dam are less than levels of concern. We also documented that the highest sediment pollutant concentrations were typically from downstream of the dam.
Previous Updates
2010
Responding to Climate Change: Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Drained Peatland Restoration (pdf 476Kb). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Contaminants ecologists reduce pollution through prevention and restoration. The agency is being challenged to address climate change, important drivers of which are pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Restoring drained peatlands is a quantifiable approach to sequestering these pollutants, an approach that contaminants ecologists have facilitated in eastern North Carolina.
2009
Healthy pocosin wetlands have important wildlife habitat, nutrient storage and water quality functions. Photo credit: USFWS/Dale Suiter.
2008
- Toxicity and Aquatic Community Impacts of Membrane and Ion Exchange Water Treatment Effluents in Coastal North Carolina (pdf 200Kb).
- New Site-Specific Fish Mercury Data for Four Eastern North Carolina National Wildlife Refuges (pdf 150Kb).
- New Publications Advance Understanding of Freshwater Mussel Sensitivity to Pollutants (pdf 94Kb).
2007
- Cape Fear River Sediment Assessment Report Released (pdf 90Kb).
- New Wetland Restoration Partnership to Benefit Water Quality and Wildlife Habitat (pdf 777Kb).
- Landfill Siting: The Importance of Protective Buffers for North Carolina National Wildlife Refuges (pdf 629Kb).
2006
- Evaluation of Standard Practices for Ranking and Prioritizing Pollutants in the Contaminant Assessment Process (CAP) (pdf 660Kb)
- Assessing Pollutant Sensitivity of North Carolina’s Threatened and Endangered Fishes (pdf 67Kb)
- At Current Levels, Fluoride Unlikely a Limiting Factor for the Endangered Appalachian Elktoe (pdf 585Kb)
- Unraveling the Cause of Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy in North Carolina (pdf 501Kb)
2005
- Recommendations for Protecting Freshwater Mussels from Ammonia Toxicity
- Bringing North Carolina Data into the National Malformed Amphibian Initiative
Program Contacts
Tom Augspurger, Ecologist, 919-856-4520 ext. 21
Sara Ward, Ecologist, 919-856-4520 ext. 30
