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Sudoku
 | Sunday, April 13, 2003 |
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Idaho Marshes lure birds to death Karen Dorn Steele
CATALDO, Idaho _ Two thousand migrating tundra swans swooped into North Idaho last month to feed from wetlands along the Coeur d'Alene River on their way to Canada and Alaska. About 100 of the graceful white birds never resumed their journey. They are dead or dying -- victims of lead in the toxic mine sediments washed into the wetlands from the Silver Valley. Throughout the Chain Lakes and the marshes between Cataldo and Harrison, lead levels are often fatal to many species of birds. From 1992 to 1997, a year of major floods, biologists found hundreds of dead birds. Swans are among the most sensitive because they feed in the sediment. When they ingest too much lead in their food, their digestive system shuts down. Still hungry, they frantically continue to eat. They die in the midst of plenty -- their stomachs full. "They continue to feed, but they are starving to death," said Dan Audet, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife The continuing toll on wildlife was graphically evident last week on a tour organized by Audet's agency for locals working on a 30-year Superfund cleanup plan for the Coeur d'Alene Basin. In a private wetland near Killarney Lake, a lone swan staggered toward the water. Its mate had disappeared. Another swan had crawled into a thicket of reeds to die. Lead levels in the private marsh haven't been measured. But in nearby Strobl Marsh, they are five times the lethal limit for waterfowl. At Lane Marsh, a stretch of wetlands along State Highway 3, 14 swans lay dead in the brown marsh grass. A single white wing from another dead swan attacked by predators lay on the new Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a bike path that starts in Plummer and slices through the marshes on its way to Mullan. "There's a 90 percent chance they are dying of lead poisoning," Audet said. Fish and Wildlife keeps a national swan database to track the fate of migrating birds. Nationally, 29 percent of swans who die while migrating succumb to lead poisoning from a variety of sources, including lead shot. Here, along the Coeur d'Alene River, sediments account for nearly 92 percent of the deaths. Lead is also responsible for 70 percent of the mortality in other area wildlife, Audet said. Eleven species of birds and one mammal -- the meadow vole -- have died of lead poisoning. Fish in the basin are also under stress from dissolved lead, cadmium and zinc, studies show. A new study of the impact on people eating fish from nearby Lake Coeur d'Alene will be released this summer. Some of the tour participants were stunned by the carnage. "It must be really discouraging," Coeur d'Alene City Councilman Woody McEvers said to Audet. "You're counting dead animals, and there's nothing you can do." Wildlife experts hope to change that. Some 33 miles of the lower Coeur d'Alene River and adjacent wetlands are included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's $360 million cleanup plan. Chain Lakes is a series of small lakes along the river; some are connected by canals. They are scenic and popular. Human health risks from lead-tainted yards and polluted recreation areas are the No. 1 cleanup priority, said Sheila Eckmann, the EPA's project manager from Seattle who attended the tour. But saving wildlife, including songbirds in the riparian zone near the river, is another top goal. Fish and Wildlife staffers are determining which lakes and wetlands on 20,000 acres of contaminated flood plain are most heavily used by waterfowl -- and which most likely won't be recontaminated by sediments moving through the river system. Areas used heavily by waterfowl with the best prospects for permanent protection will be addressed first, Audet said. Top on the agency's list for wetlands remediation are Thompson and Anderson lakes, plus adjacent Thompson Marsh and Bare Marsh in the lower basin near Harrison. No hunting is allowed on Thompson Lake, a heavily used bird refuge. Lane Marsh, where most of the dead swans were seen on last week's tour, is also high on the list. EPA's recent record of decision that details basin contamination lists more than 3,000 acres where lead levels are above 530 parts per million, the level thought to harm wildlife. Another 15,000 acres of highly contaminated wetlands won't be cleaned up in the next 30 years because there's not enough money. Citizen and technical committees advising the new Coeur d'Alene Basin Cleanup Commission, formed last year to guide the cleanup, are starting to set priorities in a five-year plan. They're considering a variety of approaches, including capping and dredging the sediments and adding chemicals to the soil to reduce the lead. Government scientists also have begun to talk with private landowners about creating 1,500 acres of additional clean wetlands for migratory birds. They're especially interested in Canyon Marsh, an agricultural area flooded annually by the 4th of July Creek. The marsh has some of the highest waterfowl use in the region. Very few dead birds have been found in that marsh -- a good sign, Audet said. Landowners would be paid for easements to maintain the clean wetlands, Audet said. In addition, dredging is under consideration for the Dudley Reach of the Coeur d'Alene River, where about 10 feet of mine sediments has accumulated over a century. EPA's cleanup plan calls for removing up to 2.6 million cubic yards of heavy metals-tainted sediments from that stretch of the river, but nobody knows where to put the muck. EPA's plan gives no specifics. "Nobody has a clue" where the sediments will be buried, said Phil Cernera, cleanup coordinator for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. The Basin Commission's technical leadership group will have to deal with the issue, the EPA's Eckmann said. Meanwhile, scientists are experimenting with soil-amendment techniques to reduce lead in the wetlands. In the lab, phosphoric acid added to soil and fed to waterfowl cuts lead absorption in half, Audet said. The soil amendment has worked well in agricultural plots along the river, said Mike Schlepp, who farms near Lane Marsh. Schlepp sends his potatoes and onions to the University of Idaho to test for lead and cadmium. They are safe, he said. "My potatoes grown next to the Coeur d'Alene River had 1 part per million less lead than supermarket potatoes," he said. At Black Rock Slough near Bull Run, state of Idaho and UI scientists are testing the technique in experimental plots. But in much of the Coeur d'Alene Basin where lead levels exceed 1,800 parts per million -- the lethal level for waterfowl -- soil amendments wouldn't be adequate. "It's not a cleanup option yet. It's only in a pilot phase," Audet said. The pace of cleanup will depend on available funding, the agency officials agreed. There's only $230 million left in the nationwide Superfund account, and competition for money is strong, Eckman said. It's important to start the first work to protect wildlife, Audet said. "Dying waterfowl doesn't happen on many Superfund sites," he said. "We feel we need to move on this now before the entire upper basin is clean." •Karen Dorn Steele can be reached at 459-5462 or by e-mail at karend@spokesman.com.
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