T4 AM Endangered Species and Environmental Contaminants: Status of the Science (Part 1)
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Ballroom 4

(HEC-1117-843979) A pesticide specific assessment with threatened steelhead: An example of integrating the Endangered Species Act with ecological risk assessment.

Hecht, S¹, Scholz, N², Laetz, C², Boroja, M³, ¹ National Marine Fisheries Service, Protected Resources Division, Lacey, WA, USA² NOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, USA³ National Marine Fisheries Service; Protected Resources Division, Washington, D.C., USA

ABSTRACT- Twenty-six evolutionarily significant units of Pacific salmonids are listed as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 1999 the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Middle Columbia River steelhead ESU (consisting of 16 independent populations) as threatened. These independent populations evolved and adapted to specific physical, chemical, and biotic watershed characteristics, many of which are potentially impaired by past and current land use practices. Offsite transport of pesticides from agricultural, residential, and forested lands to streams and rivers have the potential to impact steelhead and their supporting habitats. The U.S. Geological Survey has detected multiple pesticides in surface waters throughout steelhead habitats. To determine the degree to which exposure from these pesticide products may affect steelhead and their habitats we integrated ecological risk assessment techniques with the procedural requirements of the ESA. Specifically, we constructed an ecological risk assessment based on a watershed scale to address the potential impacts of pesticides. Here we present the initial construct of integrating Ecological Risk Assessment with the Endangered Species Act in respect to steelhead and pesticides.

Key words: salmon, mixtures, pesticide, endangered species