Air Toxics: Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics (PBTs)
What are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics (PBTs)?
Dioxin Monitoring
- Craters of the Moon National Park participates in EPA’s National Dioxin Air Monitoring Network (NDAMN). Olympic National Park no longer participates in the program but has ambient dioxin data from Ozette Lake from participation in the late 90s.
- Contact: Elizabeth Waddell (National Park Service), (206) 220-4287, elizabeth_waddell@nps.gov
Toxics in National Parks
- The National Parks Service has data from studies conducted in the 1980s in Olympic, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades National Parks on trace metals in lichens, mountain goat fur, and other media. Atmospheric deposition is the primary or only source of contamination to these media in these national parks.
- Contact: Elizabeth Waddell (National Park Service), (206) 220-4287, elizabeth_waddell@nps.gov
Trace Elements in Airborne Sediments at Lake Roosevelt
- The Lake Roosevelt Water Quality Council (including WA Department of Ecology, SCAPCA, NPS and EPA) is working with USGS to monitor and assess the human health exposures from contaminated sediments that become airborne during high wind events when the reservoir levels are low (primarily the spring and fall).
- More Lake Roosevelt projects
- Contact: Elizabeth Waddell (National Park Service), (206) 220-4287, elizabeth_waddell@nps.gov
Western Airborne Contaminant Assessment Project
- The Western Airborne Contaminant Assessment Project (WACAP) is a joint NPS and EPA project, in partnership with USGS, USFS, OSU, and UW to assess atmospheric deposition from long range and regional transport of mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to western parks including Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Noatac, Olympic, and Mount Rainier National Parks. This multi-year year project pairs coastal and inland parks at comparable latitudes from Alaska to Southern California and sampling sites at different elevations to evaluate differential deposition from global and regional transport related to latitude and elevation.
Contact: Elizabeth Waddell (National Park Service), (206) 220-4287, elizabeth_waddell@nps.gov