The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it is launching a study to assess the effects of lead exposure on songbirds breeding within the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. The study is being led by researchers at Southeast Missouri State University, University of Missouri-Columbia and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The study is part of an ongoing Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process conducted by co-trustees, including the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The co-trustees are making the Draft Songbird Assessment Plan available for public review and comment.
The study expands on an earlier songbird study conducted as part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment which found levels of lead that are known to cause adverse effects on birds. The earlier study determined that contamination associated with mining and smelting in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District causes injury to ground-feeding songbirds. The new study is designed to gather additional information on the scope of bird exposure to lead, and to test whether birds exposed to lead in southeast Missouri suffer negative reproductive effects.
The Natural Resource Damage Assessment process is designed to determine whether releases of hazardous substances have injured natural resources, to quantify the injuries, if any, and to determine damages to compensate the public for the loss of natural resources. The trustees then seek to recover the natural resource damages from potentially responsible parties. Any recoveries may be used by the trustees only to restore, rehabilitate, replace or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources. The Draft Songbird Assessment Plan and more information about natural resource damage assessment and restoration in southeast Missouri can be found on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri Department of Natural Resources websites: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/es/ec/nrda/SEMONRDA/index.html or http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/sfund/nrda.htm.
Written comments on the Draft Assessment Plan Addendum may be submitted by March 28, 2016 to Mr. Dave Mosby at dave_mosby@fws.gov or send by regular mail at:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Missouri Ecological Services Field Office
101 Park DeVille Dr., Suite A
Columbia, MO 65203
